


Repair

by Qilby



Category: Kamigami no Asobi
Genre: M/M, Multi, Nothing big, Werewolf AU, just a bunch of memes tbh, most of the ships are rarepairs, not sorry, some violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2018-10-08 09:17:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10383339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qilby/pseuds/Qilby
Summary: On his 21st birthday, Totsuka Takeru goes back to his little hometown in the middle of nowhere, back to his family, who is more than happy to have him back. But after 5 years of being gone, things have changed a lot. Werewolves are now a thing, and there is a war going on between the two packs living in the region.





	1. Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I've been working on this fanfic for forever. And my friend, dragon-overlord-yuu, suggested I post the first chapter on Takeru's birthday, for reasons you'll learn in paragraph one or two. 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this! It will be updated every months, to give me the time to write the chapters. Once I have more free time, this may change, but for now it'll be this way!!!
> 
> Thanks a lot to Yuu also for the Beta!

Life had always been fairly normal for Takeru. Never would he have believed everything that was going to happen to him the day he turned 21.

It all had started normally. It was the 20 th of March, his birthday. Takeru hadn’t planned anything special. He was just going to hang out with his group of friends, maybe go out for a drink or two. He hadn’t seen them in so long, since he had been living on his own to study. But now that he was done with that, and he had been for quite a while already, he felt the need to take a break from jobs and school and just enjoy life with his friends. His birthday was pretty much the best moment to do so, since everyone was going to come together to celebrate it.

He arrived in the city at around 4 pm. He drove his car in front of his childhood house and stared at it for a while, a grin on his face. Takeru had been living on his own for about 5 years now. And so it had been a little less than 5 years since he last saw his home.

A boy with purple hair, a little taller than him and lean, came out of the front door and looked at him, a shy smile on his face. Takeru’s smile widened as he came out of his car and nearly ran toward the house. He jumped in his brother’s arms and hugged him warmly.

“It’s so good to see you, Tsukito!” He said to his brother as he pulled away.

“It’s your fault, you’re the one who don’t come often. Happy Birthday, Takeru.” Tsukito replied.

“I couldn’t really leave my job. But the place closed so, here I am.”

They walked back together toward the car and Tsukito helped Takeru bring his belongings inside. He would be living here for a while, until he found a place of his own. But the brothers wouldn’t mind sharing a place for a while in the meantime. They got along very well and actually had a lot of catching up to do.

Once all of Takeru’s luggage was brought inside and in his old bedroom, they sat in the living room and chatted. They weren’t supposed to meet up with the others before a few hours, since most of them were still attending school and had jobs. And that was alright. It gave the brothers some time to know what had happened to them in the past months, ever since they had last talked to each other.

“Hey, by the way, where’s Akira?”

“Didn’t he tell you? He’s living with his boyfriend.”

“What? He has a boyfriend? Since when?!” Takeru asked, surprised by the news.

“For a little while now. A few months at most. They moved in together a little while ago.”

“Waah… So who’s the poor guy?”

“You don’t know him. He arrived in the city not too long ago. His name is Thoth. You’ll probably get to meet him tonight,” Tsukito took a sip of his drink.

“Alright. What about the others? How’s Yui doing? And Loki, Balder and Thor?”

Tsukito made a weird face, something between concern and fear. He seemed to be hiding something from Takeru, but the young boy couldn’t guess what it was.

“They’re doing great. Yui’s nearly done with school, same for Balder and Loki. Thor too. But I’ll let them tell you all about themselves tonight, I don’t want to spoil their fun.” He smiled. “Especially not Loki’s.”

Takeru wasn’t going to force his brother to tell him his secret. He wouldn’t like it if Tsukito did it to him, so he would never do it either. He’d wait until Tsukito was ready to tell him what’s wrong.

“How about you? Are you in love with anyone?” Takeru grinned widely as he wiggled his eyebrows at his brother.

He started laughing when Tsukito blushed and looked to the side, grabbing one of the cushion on the couch and holding it against him.

“What’s that lucky person’s name?”

“… Apollon.”

“Don’t know him. Who is he? Will he be there tonight?”

“Yes. He… he arrived a year ago too, and I met him in one of my classes. He’s nice and very lovely. I hope you’ll appreciate him too.”

“I’m sure I will. Anyone you deem good enough to get close to you is someone I’ll appreciate. Now if you don’t mind, I will go take a shower before we go, because that car ride was long and I feel disgusting.”

“Sure. You still remember where the bathroom is, I suppose?”

“I haven’t forgotten that, of course.”

Takeru stood up and went upstairs, grabbed a new set of clothes in his bedroom and went for the bathroom, which was across the corridor.

He took his time, letting the hot water warm him up. He washed his hair and body, and came out of the bathroom looking clean about 30 minutes later. He had done his hair up again and was now wearing his favorite shirt, which was a blue, some dark blue jeans and his usual swimming team jacket. He used to be a champion back in school, but now that was a long time ago. Still, it was one of his most precious possession. It meant a lot to him, and his swimming team was like a second family to him while he was away from home.

He grabbed his wallet and some stuff from his bedroom, and made his way downstairs. He looked in the living room, but Tsukito was no longer there.

“Brother?” He called, as he started looking around the house.

As he approached the kitchen, he heard two hushed voices. One was Tsukito’s, but the other belonged to someone unknown to him.

“… sooner or later,” said the unknown voice.

“I know, but… so much has changed since he left. I don’t know how to tell him…”

“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure you will. You always do. And I’ll help you. I will.” The voice was gentle and comforting.

Takeru felt bad for eavesdropping, but… he couldn’t help it. This conversation was troubling, and now it seemed to be about him. It was the thing Tsukito was keeping secret.

Not wanting to embarrass anyone, Takeru came out from his hiding place, walking into the kitchen like he had heard nothing. He saw Tsukito jump a little into the arms of a tall, blond guy with bright green eyes.

“Am I interrupting something?” Takeru smiled.

“No! No, not at all,” Tsukito laughed nervously. “How was your shower?”

“Fine. So are you going to introduce me or not?”

“Yes of course. Takeru, this is Apollon, my… boyfriend. Apollon, my brother Takeru.”

“You hesitated! You actually did!” Apollon whined. “But nice to meet you, Take-Take!”

“Take-Take? What the fuck is that?”

“Well... your nickname! Everyone has one. Right Tsuki-Tsuki?”

Takeru raised an eyebrow as he looked at his brother, who just waved his hand in dismissal. The boy decided to let it go, but he definitely didn’t like the nickname. He already had enough with Loki calling him “Ta-tan” all the time.

“The name’s Takeru, so please stick to that. Nice to meet you too. Shall we go?”

“Yes.” Tsukito promptly replied. “You want to drive?”

“Not just want to. I  _ am _ going to drive, whether you like it or not.”

Tsukito smiled. He had missed his brother so much these past years. It felt really good to have him back, despite things being more complicated than they used to be. A lot more.

They arrived at the bar 15 minutes later. Tsukito had rode up front with his brother while Apollon sat behind. The two brothers were talking non-stop, remembering their high school years and childhood in the streets of this small city. Once they reached the bar, they realized most of their friends were already there, sitting on the terrace outside, drinking and talking.

Takeru got out of his car while Apollon hurried to get out from behind and gallantly open Tsukito’s door. The boy smiled as he took Apollon’s hand and stood up.

“Hey! Ta-tan’s here!” They heard Loki yell from his seat.

Everyone started cheering and singing Happy Birthday as Takeru locked his car and walked toward them. He jumped over the small fence instead of taking the door and landed next to his friends.

“Hello, I have returned!” he exclaimed, standing straight to appear taller.

“Don’t try to make yourself look like you have grown, you haven’t!” Loki laughed.

“Shut up, stupid prankster,” Takeru grinned.

They hugged briefly, Takeru trying to avoid having a prank done to him so early into the evening.

“Welcome back, Takeru,” Balder greeted him.

He hugged about everyone he knew from before. When he got to Yui, he found her sitting between Thor and an unknown boy. She stood up, tearing up a little, and nearly jumped in his arms.

“Sorry I took so long to come back, Weed.”

“It’s so good to see you again! It’s been way too long, Takeru.”

“Yeah, but now I’m back and ready to celebrate! Oh by the way, where’s my good for nothing other brother?”

“He’ll be here shortly, he texted me to say he was going to be late,” Balder answered.

Takeru sat down among his friends and asked the waitress to bring him a beer. He and his friend started catching up immediately. At first, he was asking about them. Loki and Balder were still together, which was not very surprising. They had been dating before he left and he had no doubt they would never leave each other. The next surprise was Yui dating Thor  _ and _ the new guy he didn’t know. Apparently, he was Apollon’s brother and he was named Dionysus.

“So I guess you’re part of our mythological group by force,” Takeru snorted as he sipped his beer.

“Yeah, I guess we just fit right in. Although you the Totsukas and Yui, you don’t have mythological names,” Dionysus pointed out, pouring himself another glass of wine.

“Wait my brothers didn’t tell you our magnificent names?” Takeru asked, surprised. “No one told you?”

“He didn’t ask~” Loki replied.

“Yeah I guess no one thought it’d be good to tell me. And I did not think you would have another name either.”

“Alright, get ready to learn some shit, Dionysus. My brothers and I are named after some Japanese god trio. My full name is actually Susanoo Takeru Totsuka, Susanoo being a sea and storm god or something. Tsukito’s Tsukuyomi Tsukito totsuka.”

“Tsukuyomi’s the moon god,” Tsukito explained briefly.

He was sitting close to Apollon, his head resting on his shoulder. He seemed a little sick, but of course he would never admit it.

“And finally Akira is Amaterasu Akira Totsuka. I think Amaterasu was a sun goddess or something. But of course, none of us go by those name, especially not Akira. He largely prefers being called Akira.” Takeru finished explaining. “So, we’re all part of the mythological squad of this town. Only Yui does not have the name of a goddess.”

“She doesn’t need one, she already is,” Thor smiled.

“Oh, get a room!” Loki threw a piece of bread at his friend who playfully threw it back at him.

Takeru laughed. It felt like he had never left. Things seemed so peaceful and nice. Of course, everything had changed, but it felt like he had changed with them. Like he hadn’t left for 5 consecutive years to study.

“So, Takeru!” Balder smiled at him, a smile Takeru thought he’d only ever see on Loki’s face. “Do you have anyone in your life yet?”

“If you’re asking me out on a date, I’ll have you know your boyfriend is next to you,” Takeru laughed.

“Balder! Am I not enough for you~?” Loki pretended to be hurt and turned his back to Balder.

“You big idiot, come back here,” the boy laughed as he grabbed Loki by his shoulder and pulled him closer to him. “I, of course, was not asking you out on a date. But I am sure you understood my question.”

“Yeah, yeah, I understood. Answer is, I currently have no one. I just came out of a relationship and it kind of ended badly, so I’m not even looking for anyone right now.” He admitted, a sad smile on his face.

He chugged down the rest of his beer and asked for another one. The others were slightly embarrassed by the answer. They didn’t want to make him sad or anything.

“Can we ask what happened?” Yui inquired gently, speaking for everyone.

“Hm. I guess I have no problem telling you guys… I was with this girl, she was always coming to my swimming races and stuff, and we got together a few months ago, at an after party of one of my races. We had won, of course, so yeah. Turns out she was already dating another person at the time, and she was still going out with them 6 months into our relationship. So you know. I’ve been single for the past 4 months and all is well. Now stop it with the long faces and start drinking, the night is still young.”

Everyone smiled and the conversation happily started again. They kept chatting about everything and nothing, reminiscing the past and their childhood. The sun was down and the moon was shining bright in the sky.

“Where the fuck is Akira?” Takeru mumbled after a while, looking around. “It’s not like him to be this late.”

“Oh he’ll be here shortly, I promise!” Apollon smiled.

And indeed, 10 minutes later, two motorcycle parked themselves close to the terrace. The first one had two riders, one muscular and tall, the other smaller and delicate. On the other bike was one rider only. He was in between the two first figures height. They all removed their helmets and walked toward the crew, the smaller of them walking fast toward them.

“Where’s my little brother?” Akira called as he also jumped the fence to get to Takeru faster. “The one that won’t even call me to tell me how he is doing?”

Takeru stood up and gave his other brother a warm hug. They hadn’t always had the best relationship, but ever since Takeru had left the house, it had gotten better.

“I’m so happy to see you’re back, Takeru,” Akira sighed contently. “I’ve been missing your endless energy.”

“It’s good to see you again too, Akira. Now, are you going to introduce me to your boyfriend or will I have to do that myself?”

“Tsukito, you told him!”

“I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to,” Tsukito defended himself.

“Alright, alright, where even is my boyfriend?”

Akira looked around, looking for one of the man he had probably arrived with. They were inside the bar, buying a drink or two probably, before joining their little party.

Takeru took this moment to look at his brother. He looked different from before, in a good way. He looked much better than when he had left, much happier. His white hair were tied in a ponytail, and he was rocking a very fitting leather jacket, a white t-shirt and some black jeans.

“Ah, there he is!” Akira happily smiled, spotting his boyfriend coming toward them.

Takeru guessed he meant the taller one, the one with white hair, dark skin and a mean look on his face. Since he was carrying two beers, he guessed one of them was for his brother.

“Thoth, sweetheart, this is Takeru, my brother. Takeru, my boyfriend Thoth. Also, this is Anubis.”

“Nice meeting you,” Takeru smiled.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you too!” Anubis happily replied as he shook Takeru’s hand.

“So you’re the last of the Totsuka,” Thoth simply said. “Here, Aki.”

“Thank you,” Akira gave him a peck on the cheek as he took his beer. “Sorry we arrived late! I had to run a few errand for when we all go back home for the rest of the evening.”

“It’s okay. How about we go sit?”

“Wonderful idea.”

They squeezed in around the table and the conversation picked up where it had stopped, now with Akira and Anubis participating. Thoth was drinking his beer without really adding to the conversation. In a way, Takeru was reminded of Tsukito, but in a grumpier way. He could see why Akira had chosen him as his boyfriend though. Despite his silence and apparently lack of reaction, Thoth reacted to the smallest movement Akira would make, make sure he didn’t accidentally spill his glass, and sometimes kissing him gently when Akira turned to look at him. The interaction made Takeru smile. They looked very sweet together, and it warmed his heart.

In the distance, Takeru suddenly heard a wolf howl. Strange. He didn’t know there were wolves so close to the city. Sure, there were forests all around, and they were bound to have some predators, but… it sounded way too close.

Around the table, everyone tensed up. They all looked in the distance, apparently worried.

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the wolves?” Takeru asked, frowning.

“Oh~? Haven’t you heard? There are werewolves around the city~” Loki smiled at him, briefly looking at him.

Tsukito choked on his drink. Balder gave Loki a dark look and hit him in the ribs with his elbow. Akira suddenly tensed up and glanced at Thoth, who was the only one not disturbed.

“No, I have not heard about that.”

“It’s just a rumor!” Yui anxiously laughed. “There has been some attacks recently around town and people are saying it’s a werewolf. It’s probably just a rabid dog or something. Nothing to worry about!”

“If you say so… Hey, I think I’ll walk back home. I need some time to sober up a little before drinking some more. I’ll meet you all home?” Takeru asked, standing up.

Nervous looks were exchanged around the table. Takeru raised an eyebrow.

“Of course we’ll meet you back home. Do you mind if I walk with you?” Akira asked, worried.

“Actually, yeah. I kinda want to be alone for a few minutes, before interacting with all of you.” Takeru laughed casually. “See you in a little while guys, don’t make me wait too long!”

They smiled and waved him goodbye. As he paid his beers, he could hear the hushed whispers. One thing came out louder than the rest. ‘ _ Is it safe? _ ’ it sounded like Yui’s voice, but he wasn’t sure. He left the bar without looking back.

The atmosphere had changed so much after that wolf’s howling, it had made Takeru uncomfortable. He felt like he was the only one that wasn’t in on a super big secret, but all his friends were. It kind of put a stop to this good feeling he had, the one that made him feel like he had never left. He felt out of place just a little. There was something going on, it was making Tsukito super nervous and that made him mad. He thought his brother knew he could tell him anything, but apparently it was not the case.

As he walked, he passed by one of the few places the forest reached the road either side of it. Takeru had walked and ran on that road for years. He was not scared to do so right now. But the noises coming from the woods were scaring him a little. A branch cracked, making him jump. But when he looked, there was nothing.

“Calm down, it’s just some random animal, nothing to worry about,” he mumbled to himself as he kept walking, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

But as he kept walking, he felt like something or someone was following him. He was getting a little nervous, so he started running.

Worst idea ever.

As he reached the end of the small forest, a beast came out from it, right behind Takeru. The boy slowly turned around and found himself facing a bear-like creature with bright red eyes. It was huge, like a bear, except it wasn’t one. It had a canine face, long limbs and grey fur.

“Werewolf,” Takeru whispered in terror.

There was a moment where none of them moved, Takeru petrified, the beast, curious. But the moment the werewolf made a step forward, not even threatening, Takeru screamed and started running faster.

The beast followed him without a second thought. Takeru was panicked, scared and overall convinced he was going to die. He took a sharp turn in his neighbourhood, running as fast as he could. He was happy that he had kept on training, even after he had stopped training to be a swimming champion. He had picked up kendo, and that asked to be in great shape.

Heart racing in his chest, eyes wild and hair in his face, Takeru ran and ran toward his house. He could see it in the distance, lightly lit by the porch’s light. He would make it. Despite the beast running behind him, he would succeed and stay alive. He could hear the beast breathing heavily and whining as it ran behind him. From the shadow the werewolf was casting, it was at least twice Takeru’s size, and very, very large. Just another reason to hurry.

Takeru leaped on the first stairs of his porch, searching for his keys. His hands were shaking badly as he tried to unlock the door, hearing the beast’s paws touching the wood of the first steps. The boy dropped his keys, which slid a bit further away from him, making him curse. He grabbed them quickly.

He finally succeeded in opening his door, but he realized the panting of the beast had changed in labored breathing and more human noises. Takeru dared to turn around. What he found astonished him.

On the stairs was now laying down a man covered in cuts and deep wound. He was also very notably naked.

“H…elp… me…” he breathed, before falling unconscious.

Takeru stared at him, unsure of what to do. On one hand, the man was wounded. On the other, he had just chased him as a wolf all across the neighbourhood.

“I’m going mad,” Takeru grumbled.

He couldn’t let the man stay there, on the stairs of his porch, when he could help him. With a sigh, he picked up the man by an arm. He barely reacted as Takeru dragged him across the house and to the extra bedroom on the first floor.

Takeru then went into the bathroom upstairs, grabbed a few towels and other stuff to clean the man. He was covered in dirt too, and that couldn’t be good for his wounds. As he got back to the man’s sides, Takeru started cleaning him up and bandaging him all over. He was bleeding heavily from certain places, and Takeru was sure he needed to get him to a hospital.

“Hospital or a vet?” he grumbled to himself as he cleaned the man’s face.

As he did so, Takeru started blushing a little. The werewolf was actually very handsome once the dirt was removed from his face. He looked in pain though, and that worried Takeru.

Takeru heard the front door open, hurried steps coming his way. Lights were turned on, and the boy could see his brothers and the others walking in the house, worried looks on their faces.

“I’m over here,” he called grumpily as he finished bandaging the man’s legs.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Tsukito asked as he walked in the room. “… oh.”

“I’m guessing you know this man?” Takeru said, not looking away from his patient.

“Uncle! Uncle are you alright?” Apollon called as he entered the room and knelt next to the beast’s head.

“His unconscious and needs rest. He has been severely wounded. I don’t know if we need to get him to a vet or a hospital. Guess we’ll wait and see when he wakes up. Now… you all owe me an explanation.”

Tsukito nervously glanced at Apollon, who immediately walked back to his boyfriend. He put a hand on his shoulder and whispered calming words to his ear. Takeru started connecting the dots. Of fucking course. It was so obvious!

“Let’s go to the living room, alright Take-Take? Is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, whatever,” he grumbled in a response as he stood up.

Takeru passed by them and entered the living room, where the rest of their friends were sitting and waiting anxiously. They looked at Takeru as the boy sat down on his favorite place on the couch. His eyes stopped on all their faces as he waited for Tsukito and Apollon to sit down with the others. Once everyone was installed, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened them, he looked at his friends with the most serious face they had ever seen him with.

“Is this the moment you all announce me you guys all turned into werewolves while I was studying?”

Loki laughed at the statement. “You sound jealous. But no, not all of us. I, for instance, am human. So is Balder.”

“I am too,” Thor admitted.

“Human,” Thoth sighed.

“Any other humans?”

A long silence. No one else spoke up.

“Alright. Now, tell me the whole story of how you guys got turned.”

“We didn’t all get turned, Takeru.” Yui spoke up first. “I’ve always been one. Same goes for Apollon, Dionysus, Anubis and Hades, whom is the werewolf you just healed. We were all born from other werewolves and so on. However…”

She turned to Tsukito, who was half hidden behind Apollon. The blond boy put an arm around his shoulder, whispered some words to him, probably as an encouragement. Finally, Tsukito took a deep breath and stared right into Takeru’s eyes.

“I… was turned three years ago. When the werewolves started arriving into town, and I mean not only the ones in our pack, I got bitten. I… was just walking home at night from school, and one of our enemies bit me. Apollon was the one who helped me adapting to this new condition.” Tsukito smiled sweetly at his lover. “He’s the one who introduced me to the others. That’s also when I learned Yui was a werewolf.”

“And you were so nervous to tell me because?” Takeru asked, an eyebrow raised.

“I knew you would not believe me and would think it was a joke. I didn’t want you laughing at this situation. I’ve been trying to come up with a way to tell you…”

“Okay… Akira?”

“My situation is different. You know I visited Japan a year ago, right?”

“Yes, you mentioned it a  _ lot _ at Christmas.”

“During my trip there, I visited a shrine protected by spirit foxes. One was dying as I passed by. It was attacked by something else, I don’t really know what. The fox spirit took me as a host so his spirit would go on living.”

“And… you guys all form a pack? Who’s the Alpha? That guy Hades?”

“Actually, I am the Alpha of this pack,” Yui admitted shyly.

“Of course. I don’t really understand why I thought it’d be anyone else.”

“You are taking this surprisingly well, Takeru,” Akira noted.

“I just had the shit scared out of me by being chased by one of your friends, who turned out was just seeking help because he was wounded. I am freaking out. All my friends, even my brothers, turn out to be fucking animals. I’m slightly drunk, scared and tired and want to go to bed. But first, I want to hear the whole story, and also calm down a little before I do to sleep.” Takeru explained.

“Alright then. I will tell you what has happened. Three years ago, I was still pack-less. Then Hades, Dionysus and Apollon arrived into town, along with another pack who was their enemies. I ended up fighting them side by side with Dio and the others. But during those battles, Tsukito walked by, and one of the escaping wolf attacked him and bit him. We’ve ever since taken him in. I imposed myself as the Alpha fairly quickly, not because I wanted to but, you know… instinct and stuff. A year later, Anubis and Thoth arrived in the city. We ran into Anubis one night, and he joined our pack, despite being a Jackal. After that, things have been peaceful. Akira joined us after he first turned into a kitsune. Although now, our enemies are back. We’ve been keeping them out of the town for a while, and normally they shouldn’t have attacked tonight. Apparently, they did not respect the boundaries, and since we were with you and Hades was alone, it was fairly easy. I hope… I hope there were no victims.” She finished in a whisper, looking at the ground.

“That’s… wild. Have you thought about writing a fiction novel with this?”

“Takeru, our existence must remain secret!” Akira protested.

“Hey calm down, it was just a joke… I sure missed a lot while studying on the other side of the country.”

“You did. Now, I know it’s not the best way to end your birthday party, but we must go patrol.”

“Yeah sure. I’m… I don’t really care, I just want to go to bed to freak out on my own.” Takeru admitted. “So… good night.”

Quickly, he climbed upstairs and walked to his bedroom. He removed his clothes, threw them to the ground and threw himself on his mattress. Surely, he was going to wake up from this horrible nightmare. Everyone he knew… well, nearly everyone… they turned out to be werewolves? How could this be possible! And yet… Yui’s strange behavior as a kid suddenly made sense. And Tsukito’s nervousness during the evening. Everything suddenly made sense, and it was hard to believe he hadn’t understood that sooner.

He fell asleep thinking about this. Fortunately, no nightmares or even just nice dreams came to him. He just slept and slept until the next morning, where he was woken up by the sound of a puppy whining.

Takeru opened his eyes, disoriented. He wondered where he was, then remembered this was his home. Thing is, he didn’t remember having a dog. Yet, the whining kept coming from the room below him.

The previous’ night conversation came back to his mind, and he remembered the wolf-man he had helped… Hades was it?

Suddenly worried for him, Takeru quickly put on some clothes and ran downstairs. No one was up yet… or back, for all he knew. He walked toward the room, careful not to make a sound. But instead of finding a man in the bed, he found a giant wolf curled up and licking his wounds.

Takeru froze in the doorway as the wolf’s red eyes fell on him. It stopped licking his cuts and looked at him. He didn’t appear to want to attack him, but the fangs barely visible from his half opened mouth were enough to send shivers down Takeru’s spine.

“ _ I won’t hurt you,” _ a voice said, and it felt like it was right inside Takeru’s brain.

It was a deep, gentle voice. It sounded really nice, but slightly pained. After a few moments of thinking, Takeru came to the conclusion the wolf-man had spoken to him. Takeru took a step back, unsure. Was this really… safe?

“How can I trust you? I don’t even know you.”

“ _ Despite that, you saved me yesterday. _ ”

“You were wounded! And I wasn’t in my right mind. You had just chased me through the neighborhood.”

“ _ I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t desperately need help. I do apologize for my behavior and the terror I caused in you. _ ”

His red eyes were hypnotizing and Takeru found it hard to look away. He was very, very massive and imposing, compared to his human form. Sure he was tall and a little muscular as a human, but it didn’t compare to his wolf form, which barely fit on the double place bed.

“I still can’t believe this is actually happening,” Takeru mumbled to himself as he walked inside of the room. “Stay still, I need to check your wounds.”

The wolf appeared to be surprised by this, but he didn’t move. Takeru was surprised by how fast the deepest wounds were healing. They were nearly all closed now.

“How is that even possible?” He asked, looking back at the wolf-man.

“ _ Canine’s spit helps healing. Plus, werewolves heal fast. We have too, since we’re literally always at war with other packs. _ ”

“Are you telling me my brothers and small Yui are  _ fighting _ and risking their lives?!” Takeru exclaimed, getting to his feet rapidly.

The wolf nodded. “ _ Yes. From that, I’m guessing you are Takeru, the last of the Totsuka brothers. _ ”

“I am. What about it?”

“ _ Tsukito has been anxious about telling you about his condition for nearly three years. Every Christmas, he thought he was ready, but he kept backing out every time. I’m glad he finally got around to tell you. Poor boy was making himself sick with worries. _ ”

That surely didn’t help Takeru’s mood. He was already pretty grumpy, but now he felt bad. He thought his brother knew he would do anything for him, and he would accept him in any cases. But Takeru had to admit Tsukito was right in believing he would have laughed at being told he was a werewolf. Takeru wasn’t one to believe in such mythological creatures, and he would have believed that his brother was making a joke. He could see how that would have made Tsukito feel even worse about it.

He knelt back down next to the bed, his head hanging low. He felt guilty for making his brother this anxious. He was also worried about him now. Tsukito wasn’t the strongest, and he was actually fairly fragile compared to his brother. Takeru had always felt the need to protect his big brother, but now he felt powerless, and as if he had failed that task. Maybe if he had been there three years ago, that would never had happen.

“ _ It’s no use feeling bad now. Just have an honest conversation about whatever it is you are feeling with Tsukito, and everything will be fine, _ ” the werewolf advised.

“Your name is Hades, correct?” Takeru replied, anxious to change the subject.

Hades’ ears perked up. “ _ Yes, it is. Why?” _

“Just wanted to make sure, so I knew your name.”

“Uncle!” Apollon yelled, walking in, barely being careful as he passed by Takeru. “Uncle are you okay? How are you feeling? What happened?”

Hades let out a huff, laid back down and completely ignored Apollon, who started complaining loudly. Takeru tried not to laugh as he turned around and saw Tsukito in the doorway, looking at him worriedly.

“Hey bro,” Takeru greeted him as he stood up and met him at the entrance of the room. “I think we need to have a little chat, just you and me, with a nice cup of hot chocolate.”

“Sounds good,” Tsukito smiled sweetly.

They left the loud Apollon to care about his uncle as they made their way to the kitchen, where they prepared hot chocolate.

Yes, they did need to have a heart to heart conversation, and the best way to do so was while drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate outside, at their favorite spot under the tree, just like they did as kids.


	2. Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New month, new chapter! Hopefully you guys will enjoy this. In this, we have a more official introduction between Takeru and Hades, and an easily flustered Takeru. With more than one chapter, I'm hoping this will get a bit more attention! 
> 
> Don't forget to leave a kudo or a review to tell me how you liked this!
> 
> And forever thanks to dragon-overlord-yuu for the beta, she's an angel for doing this

As they silently drank their hot cocoa, the two brothers stared at their house from under the tree. In th, their friends were slowly starting to wake and making their way to the kitchen to get something to eat. It felt like any other normal day after a party, except it was not.

“I’m sorry you were anxious about telling me all of this. I’m sorry it’s been like that for three years, Tsukito,” Takeru whispered as he took a sip of his drink.

“I should be the one apologizing. I should have told you sooner, but… I couldn’t find the words…”

“Hey, it wasn’t your fault, okay? Don’t blame yourself for that. And stop feeling guilty for not telling me sooner. Now I know, and it’s alright.”

“Akira’s right, you are taking things surprisingly well.”

“Oh, I do think you guys are all crazy, I can assure you that. But just this morning I had a conversation with a wolf twice my size and checked his wounds, so hey. If it’s a dream, I’ll wake up soon, and if it’s not… and I mean, it obviously isn’t since I’ve been pinching myself since I woke up and everything is still the same… I can’t really change it. Plus, if you are one of them, I’ll just accept your furry ass. There’s nothing more I can say. We’re family, and I’ll accept you in every damn cases and universe.” Takeru smiled at his brother.

There was a long pause before Tsukito answered. He sniffled a little, looking to the side obstinately, and whispered a barely audible “Thank you” to his brother, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder and hugged him.

In the house, they heard someone howl and dishes break. They could see pretty much everyone was now in the kitchen, and they seemed to be making a mess. Dear lord, Takeru wasn’t used to have so many people in his house anymore.

“How about we go back in, before they wreck everything.”

“Oh, the pack wouldn’t do it. It’s Loki we have to worry about,” Tsukito explained as he stood up.

“Of course. Loki. How silly of me to think anyone else would turn our house upside down just for a laugh,” Takeru grumbled as he followed his brother back inside.

In the kitchen, the group of friend was sitting around the table and on the counter, chatting happily. Nothing seemed to disturb them, despite their friend having been attacked the day before. Takeru found it slightly odd.

“Good morning, Take-Take! And good morning to you, Tsuki-Tsuki!” Apollon welcomed them in, and went straight for Tsukito, sweetly kissing him on the lips.

“You already told me that,” Tsukito replied, smiling shyly.

“I can tell you again if you want! I really can,” Apollon repeated, smiling brightly at his boyfriend and hugging him close.

“Aww get a room, you two! Do you have to always be so lovey-dovey?” Loki complained.

“You’re just jealous, Loki-Loki!”

“Jealous? I’m not jealous. I have Balder with me every night and I hang out with him all day, but I don’t feel the need to be around his neck all the time,” Loki complained some more.

“Boys, enough,” Yui intervened before they kept going. “Tsukito and Apollon are mates, their bond is different from any other kind of bonds. It’s only normal for them to behave like this. And no, it’s not the same with you and Balder, before you even try to add anything, Loki.”

“Alright, Alright Kitten. No need to get on your high horses. Or high wolves, I should say.”

“Now that I have everyone’s attention, I’d like it if we could discuss patrols. If the other packs starts invading our territory, we will have problems and we will need to create new boundaries. I don’t want other innocents to be turned into werewolves.”

“Patrols will be useless,” a deep voice said, making everyone jump.

They all turned toward the entrance to the kitchen, only to find a half-naked man, his torso and face covered in scars and fresh wounds. He had red eyes and grey-greenish messy hair. He was tall and kind of muscular. And pretty hot.

Takeru finally realized that this was the werewolf he had saved the night before. Without all the blood, the fur and in bright daylight, he looked a bit different than he had yesterday. He hadn’t appeared handsome at first, but now…

“Hades! You should be resting!” Yui protested as she stood up and tried to force Hades to go back to the room.

“I’m fine. Beside, we have important things to discuss. I have discovered things yesterday, which led to me being beaten up. But I still have some vital information.”

“So it wasn’t one of them getting on our territory?” Dionysus asked, eating some grapes from the bowl beside him.

“No, they did enter our territory. However, they expected to find us around our place, where they could spy on us. They didn’t know you guys would be at the bar. So I ended up following them, but the hunters set up some traps again and I didn’t see one. I got caught for a moment and yelped, which caught the intruder’s attention, and then I ran away. They ran after me, were able to catch up because of my hurt leg, beat me a little, and then I howled.”

“We heard that, it worried us. It really did, but we couldn’t leave right away,” Apollon spoke up.

“No matter. I just wanted to warn you not to come in the woods alone. Anyway, they got scared you guys would come I guess, so they ran away. I took the opportunity to leave. But I needed help quickly. That’s when I found Mister over there,” he pointed Takeru, “and started running after him, which wasn’t my brightest idea. But I kind of saw the resemblance between him and Akira and Tsukito, so I thought he was already in on the secret. Sorry I scared you so bad,” Hades apologized, bowing his head slightly.

“It’s alright,” Takeru accepted his apology, obstinately looking in another direction.

The intensity he could see in Hades’ eyes was too much. He felt his heart race just a little faster, and his cheeks warming up. He hadn’t felt like that since his last relationship, and it scared him. He didn’t want to be hurt again. He didn’t want to fall in love right away again. It was too soon.

Somehow, after repeating to himself it was just because of all the stress and tiredness he had gone through, Takeru made himself believe he didn’t have a crush on this new guy. He barely knew him anyway!

“If patrols are useless, what do you suggest we do?” Dionysus inquired.

“I don’t know yet. But there’s one thing for sure, it’s that none of us should go in the woods alone, especially the humans. We should all pair up with someone, and if one of them has to go out, the other must follow,  _ especially _ if it’s in the woods.”

The group started moving quickly like kids in school when they’re told ‘this is a group project’ and they want to be the first one to ask their best friend to be with them. Soon, You had Loki hanging around Balder’s neck possessively, Dionysus and Thor arguing over who would get to be with Yui, and Yui deciding they’d be the group of three, Apollon hugging Tsukito close and forbidding him from going to see anyone and Akira gently taking Thoth’s hand and briefly looking at him. The only one left were Hades, Anubis and Takeru.

Anubis made his way to the wounded wolf, gave him a small smile, and Hades nodded, petting Anubis’ hair with his right hand. Takeru was now the only one without a team, and he wondered if it was absolutely necessary to have a partner. Maybe he should go back to his old apartment…

“Do I  _ need _ a partner?” he asked, since everyone sort of ignored him and discussed amongst themselves.

“Yes, absolutely. Hades is right, we can’t stay alone. And since you are now in on our secret, you are in danger. The other pack doesn’t know it yet, but it doesn’t take too long. Plus, since we’re now pretty much only 4 Japanese in this city, and your name is Totsuka, they’ll quickly link you to us. It would have been a problem even if we hadn’t told you,” Yui explained. “You can join one of the already formed team.”

Takeru looked at his brothers. They were both with their boyfriends, and even though Takeru knew they would both be glad to accept him, he felt he would be depending of them to protect him, and he hated it. He knew very well how to defend himself, and didn’t what to rely on his brothers, as much as he loved them.

But he didn’t see himself go with Loki and Balder either. Loki had a gift to piss him off after 5 minutes. He had been happy to see him again yesterday, but now the guy was already getting on his nerves. And finally, Yui was already with two other people. Anyone in their right mind knew that if you were trying to be subtle, going out in a group of more than 3 people cancelled the effect. His only option was to go with the team where he knew neither of the boys, which obviously meant Hades and Anubis’ team.

“I’ll go with them,” he said, pointing the two men.

“Takeru, wouldn’t it be better if you came with either me or Tsukito?” Akira worried.

“I’m not 5 years old anymore, I can take care of myself and don’t need my big brothers to take care of me. Besides, I don’t want to be in your way. And I have learned quite a lot about self defense in the past years I was gone,” he smiled.

“Takeru, they’re werewolves!” Tsukito protested, letting go of Apollon and taking hold of Takeru’s arm. “I’m sure you are very skilled in self defense, but against them you don’t stand a chance! They’re all as big as Hades, you know?”

Takeru shook his brother off and walked toward the other two.

“You don’t mind me joining you, do you?” He asked bitterly.

“Not at all. Although I would like you to settle things with your brothers. We cannot have discord among the pack.”

His voice was gentle and comprehensive. Takeru felt like he was actually understood by him. Like Hades knew how it felt to be overprotected.

“Look, Tsukito and Akira. I’m not the boy that you saw going away to study five years ago. I’ve grown a lot since then.”

“Oh~? I actually thought you seemed the same size, Ta-tan…” Loki commented.

“Shut up Loki, I’m gonna fight you later. I can handle myself. I am actually aware of… of how big werewolves can be. I had a gigantic one chase me just yesterday.”

“It’s not so simple!” Akira protested. “You luckily still are fully human! I don’t want you recklessly going to fight against our enemies!”

“I’m not going to run into their open jaws and get myself bitten, you know? I’m not 16 years old for fuck’s sake! I’m 21 since yesterday, and I’ve been living on my own for 5 fucking years. Don’t you think I’ve gotten somewhat good at handling myself? At making sure I don’t get fucking beaten up to a pulp? Look, you guys all changed. This whole story is crazy. My friends all turn out to be werewolf, and they fight other werewolves in my hometown, and apparently it’s nothing new. But you guys are not the only who have changed. 5 years is a lot of time. Just think about that.”

Takeru angrily made his way to the door, passing between Anubis and Hades. He climbed upstairs into his bedroom, grabbed his katana, and stomped back downstairs. He looked back into the kitchen just to announce one last thing, his eyes burning with rage.

“I’m on Hades and Anubis’ team, whether you guys like it or not. Whatever if my decision creates discord in your pack.”

On that happy note, he stormed out of the house by the front door, and slowly made his way toward the woods, to a place he knew very well. It was his hiding place when he was a kid, the place he loved to go when he needed to think, or just to have some time alone. And right now, it was what he needed. As much as he had wanted to come back home and be with his family again, now he was just mad at them.

As he put a foot in the woods, a strong hand gently laid on his shoulder, but that was enough to send Takeru into panic mode. He grabbed the person’s wrist, twisted it and successfully turned the person around, locking their arm behind their back. The person dropped to their knees, letting out a deep groan of pain. Only then did Takeru recognise Hades’ hair color.

As soon as he realized it was a friendly person, Takeru let him go and helped him back up to his feet, apologizing non-stop as he felt bad for attacking an already wounded person. But he was already on his surviving instinct.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was you,” he said, removing a few dead leaves from Hades’ trench coat.

“It’s okay, I should have announced myself before touching you. I forgot you weren’t one of us and didn’t have our sense of smell.”

Takeru huffed and kept walking, his katana hanging over his shoulder.

“Mind if I join you?” Hades asked as he jogged to Takeru’s side.

“No. Unless my brothers sent you. Then, yes.”

“I assure you I’m here by my own decision. I’m Hades Aidoneus, by the way.”

“Takeru Totsuka.”

They walked silently through the woods for a while, until all they could hear was the crunching of the leaves under their feet. Takeru was looking straight toward him, his eyebrows furrowed in anger. Hades walked nonchalantly by his side, hands in his pockets as he quickly glanced down on the boy. Takeru was much smaller than him, which he sort of found cute, especially with his angry expression, mixed with the determination he had to get away from his house.

“So… where are you going like that?”

“Secret hideout. Even my brothers don’t know where it is.”

“And you don’t mind me, a stranger, to know where it is?” Hades asked, surprised.

The boy shrugged and briefly glanced at the werewolf. “I dunno. I don’t really care. It’s mostly a place I go to to get away from my brothers. I’m trusting you not to tell them where it is.”

“I will not reveal it to them, I promise… but you must also promise that you will not run off alone again like that. It’s dangerous, as you should know.”

Takeru angrily sighed as he turned left. “Whatever. I brought my sword with me.”

“How long have you been training with a sword?” Hades inquired, slightly worried.

“Longer than my brothers know. I’ve been training for nearly 8 years now. I picked it up at school when I was still living around here, and kept going when I moved. I was doing championships and stuff, but doing both swordplay and swimming at the same time was getting too much, so I quit the swimming team and practiced using a katana on my own.”

Takeru didn’t really know why he felt comfortable saying this stuff to Hades, but he was. The man had some sort of calm energy emanating from him, inspiring trust. Despite having been beaten up the day before, he acted very calm and like he wasn’t hurting.

“Hey, are your wounds hurting you in any way?”

Hades shook his head sideways. “They did this morning, but not anymore. We luckily heal quickly. I’ll have the scars for a few weeks though.”

Takeru remembered all the fine lines that had covered Hades’ torso and blushed. So they would go away uh.

“Do all your scars fade?”

“Pretty much. The only ones that won’t fade is the ones inflicted by silver. It might sound cliché, but we’re sensitive to it. It won’t burn us or hurt us more than anything else. It’s just the only wound that heals at a normal, human rate.” Hades explained.

He didn’t seem troubled by it at all. He seemed quite fine by it, actually, which surprised Takeru a little. Then he remembered this guy was born a werewolf. This was his life ever since he came out of his mother’s womb.

“Is your sword made out of silver?” Hades asked, a small smile on his lips.

“No, of course not. I don’t have the money to buy something like that.”

“It’d probably be for the best if you tried to find one, or just tipped this one’s blade in silver. Like that, both your brothers could be at ease.”

“To hell with them,” Takeru grumbled, kicking a small rock on the ground. “All they’ve done ever since our parents passed away was worry about me. And they were surprised I wanted to study on the other side of the country. That was sincerely one of the best decisions I’ve made… I do wish I had been there to help Tsuki when he got turned, though.”

“Ah yes, I can see why… poor boys. Neither of them deserved what happened to them. But it comes with being friends with werewolves I guess, as sad as it is.”

Takeru was going to reply, but his eyes fell on some stairs that were screwed into the bark of a large tree, and a grin spread on his face. Without telling his companion, he took hold of the rope hanging in front of it and started climbing into the tree, where a tree house was dissimulated. Once he was up there, he looked down and saw Hades just standing there.

“Climb up! Or are werewolves scared of heights?”

“Wolves live in mountains. We’re not scared of heights!” he called back, chuckling.

Hades climbed up and inside the little cabin. He sat in front of Takeru, his legs awkwardly pressed against his chest. Takeru was small and easily fit in the little cabin, despite having grown quite a bit since it was first constructed, but Hades was 6’’ feet tall and felt cramped, and he felt like his legs were in the way if he didn’t keep them close to him.

“This place is nice,” he commented, looking around

There were pictures of young children playing together, words painted on the walls, books, old snacks papers, and various stuff left behind by a child. There were closed windows, a bit dusty, showing the forest around them. There were pillows and blankets piled up in a corner, looking pretty dusty too.

“I built it with my dad when I was younger. I’ve always been pretty impulsive compared to my brothers, and we often fought. I shared my room with Tsukito back then, and didn’t have a place of my own to hide when I wanted to be alone. So my dad brought me in the forest with him once, and we chose a tree, and we built this. I took the long way around to come here actually, it’s much closer to the house than that. You can actually see it if you look through that window. But I was afraid Akira or Tsukito would follow me, so I took a different path.”

“So this is your little sanctuary,” Hades said.

“I guess, yeah. When I’m upset, I come here and it calms me. Dad always told Aki and Tsuki to not follow me in the forest when I was upset, that I had a secret place, and unless I told them to follow me there, they shouldn’t do it without my consent. So that’s how they don’t know about here.”

“And you trust me enough to show me this place?”

He sounded very surprised and honored. Takeru took a moment to think about it. It wasn’t only the aura around this guy that made him don’t mind Hades following him to his hideout. He truly trusted this man. He blindly trusted him, just like Hades had blindly trusted him the day before, when he needed help.

“Well, you trusted me to save you yesterday. I don’t know, I just trust you.”

Hades smiled warmly at him. “It’s a good thing, since you’re on my team now. And so is Anubis, who is now stuck at your house, and can’t go out because we’re both here. I mean, the others will probably accompany him if he wants to go out but anyway. It’s a good thing to have a  _ useful _ human on the team.”

“Yeah with Loki, it’s not hard to beat that,” Takeru chuckled.

“He can be such a nuisance sometimes! It’s incredible. At least Balder keeps him in line. We have Thoth, but he is more like the brain of the pack than the arms. Thor is so quiet, it’s hard to know what he is thinking. But he is a good member of the team, and the only one who kind of knows how to fight. It’s good to have someone who has techniques and skills to do that. We will need it,” Hades sighed as he looked in the distance.

“Glad I can be of use,” Takeru laughed.

There was a long silence where none of them spoke and just stared out the window that showed the woods, mostly the path they had taken to reach this place. Takeru tore his gaze away from the forest and looked briefly at Hades’ profile. He was wearing a turtleneck sweater under his coat. His hair were tied in a low ponytail, right at the end of his neck. He also had a golden cross necklace around said neck. He looked very pretty, especially with the day light hitting him right in the face, lighting his eyes like rubies.

“Don’t be too hard with your brothers, okay? They’re worried for you.”

“They’ve always been worried for me. ‘Takeru don’t do this, Takeru don’t do that. Takeru if you do this you will hurt yourself. Takeru that is not a good idea!’ I’ve heard that song all my life, please don’t add to my misery.”

“They’re scared you’ll get turned too.”

“So what if that happens? It’s not their problem.”

“I see you’re still mad, but listen to me for a moment. This life isn’t fun, even when you are born a wolf. Tsukito was forced to turn and learn our ways. He was lucky Apollon wanted to help him, otherwise it could have gotten really hard for him. And Akira got possessed against his will too. They don’t want you going through what they endured in the past years. They want you to stay human, and for that you need a minimum protection.”

“I don’t want to be turned either!” the young boy protested. “It’s just… they’re always on my back, they always want to protect me. It’s getting tiring! I just want to feel free, and not have a fucking curfew when I’m 21 years old.” He grumbled, making Hades laugh. “And since I’m on your team, you can ‘protect’ me right? Or are you like, the lowest ranked wolf in the pack?”

“Oh no, I can totally protect you. I’m the Alpha male. Yui’s the Alpha female, but also the pack leader. We take decisions together, in a way, but she has the final word on everything. She relies on me a lot though, since I have a lot more experience in leading a pack than she does.” He explained dutifully.

“I see. Then there should be no problem, right?”

“Not at all. I will have to discuss it with them once we get back, and you will have to partake in the conversation, but they will not have much of a choice to let you be my partner, alongside Anubis. It’s your decision, and since I have fully agreed to it, they have no word to say. The only one that could decide against it is Yui, and I fully know she wouldn’t do it. She still kind of sees me as the leader, even if I keep reminding her she is.”

Takeru nodded. He was much calmer now. Being back in his sanctuary helped him a lot. But he saw the time was ticking by fast, and that Hades was showing signs of uneasiness, probably due to his wounds and the little, cramped place they were stuck in.

“Let’s go back now,” he said, crawling toward the trap in the floor and preparing to go down. “I’m fine now and want to settle this thing. Plus you look highly uncomfortable right now. You could have stretched your legs, you know?”

“I didn’t want to take all the place. But please, do go down and let us make our way back to the house.”

“You kinda speak strangely. Like if you came back from old times,” Takeru couldn’t help but comment as he reached the ground.

“Well, I do have a very long life. I am not as young as I appear.”

“How old are you anyway?”

“Around 70 years old. The ones who are born werewolves have a very long life, unlike the ones who were turned, who live normal, human lives. I age slower than normal people.”

Takeru nodded. He was a bit shocked by that information. He looked so serious, Hades couldn’t help but laugh so hard he had to stop walking. Takeru turned around puzzled.

“I’m pulling your leg,” he managed to say between fits of laughter. “Oh dear, you should have seen your face! We don’t age slower. I’m actually 24 years old, not 70. We age normally too. You’re not the first to tell me I speak strangely. I… am just careful with my words, I guess. I do not do it on purpose.”

Takeru started laughing with him. Oh, how stupid he felt right now. But he didn’t know anything about werewolves and what not, it could have been completely true! But he was happy it wasn’t. It would have been a bit strange, in all honesty.

They walked as they laughed, rapidly making their way back home. They emerged from the forest in the backyard, still laughing. From the window, some of their friends were looking at them, surprised.

“You two seem to get along very well,” Yui smiled as they walked in. “Where were you?”

“Secret,” Hades smiled at her. “I’d like to request a pack reunion right now, to settle all differences among us. Do you allow it?”

“Oh, yes sure. But the most important member of this discussion are looking for their brother right now.”

“Text them to come back then. We’ll meet at the spot.”

“Is it safe?” the young leader worried.

“If we stick to our teams, yes. All werewolves must attend, but the humans can stay behind.”

“Good!” Loki called from the living room.

“Loki, show more respect,” Balder’s muffled voice rang from the same room.

“Don’t pretend you actually wanted to go to their furry meeting! Ow, stop hitting me! Help, I’m being beaten!” he shouted, obviously trying not to laugh.

“I see nothing has changed with them,” Takeru couldn’t help but state the obvious with a small smile.

“Alright, I texted Tsukito and he says they’ll be on their way over there. I’ll go grab Dionysus and Apollon.” Yui got to her feet and left the kitchen.

“Bara!” Anubis said as he approached them. “You left me behind, ‘des!” he pouted childishly.

“Sorry. I didn’t think you would have wanted to join me as I followed mister here. Oh, by the way, Anubis this is Takeru, Takeru, Anubis.”

“Nice to meet you,” Takeru said curtly.

“Yeah same. Shall we go? I haven’t turned in days and I’m aching to run wild.”

“Ah, yes. We should leave right away. Although… I don’t know how we will do with Takeru,” Hades wondered aloud.

“I can run, that’s fine.”

“Oh no doubt you can, but we run much, much faster than humans. I’ll let you climb on my back for this time, since we need to hurry.”

The two boys went into the yard and started removing their clothes, not bothered by Takeru watching them in surprise. He tried to tear his gaze away from Hades’ fine body, but it was hard. His eyes caught on the fresh wounds, which now looked like they were days old.

When Hades started removing his trousers, Takeru found himself blushing heavily as he looked away. Their clothes were folded on the ground, and they morphed into their animal form.

Hades was a massive, grey wolf with a grey-greenish mane, the same color as his hair. He had eyes like rubies, just like his human form. The only differences for his eyes were that the sclera of his left eye was completely black, and that they looked more animal-like than human.

Anubis was completely different. Smaller in size, he had thin, black fur and long, pointy ears. His snout was long and elegant, just like his tail. He was much skinnier than Hades, but seemed just as powerful as him.

“ _ Let’s go, _ ” Hades voice rang in Takeru’s mind as he crouched in front of him, allowing him to climb on his back.

Takeru agilely climbed on him, taking handfuls of his mane and holding it tightly. Hades groaned a little, but didn’t mind more. He got to his feet and started running, followed by Anubis, who barked at him in joy.

Hades looked like a wolf, but his limbs were much longer than those of an actual wolf. His paws also looked more human like. The fingers were longer, but still furry and armed with sharp claws. His tail was very fluffy and swayed behind him as he ran through the woods at full speed.

The young boy closed his eyes as he concentrated on the feeling of the air passing through his hair. He could hear the birds singing in the distance. The two werewolves barely made any sounds, except that of the slight panting they had resulting from their run. But everything was calm and absolutely relaxing. Takeru found himself thinking that if this was how it felt to be a werewolf, he wouldn’t mind. The liberty he felt just from sitting on the back of one as it ran at full speed… he wished he could feel it too.

After maybe five minutes, they reached a clearing in the forest, where there were already people sitting in a circle. Well, people was not the correct word. They were actually the members of the pack sitting and waiting. Takeru could see a light grey wolf with warm brown eyes staring at them. It had a lovely purple mane, the same color as Yui’s hair. It was also the smallest wolf of the group, which made Takeru believe it was indeed his childhood friend.

To her left was a tall, brown-furred wolf with a spiky red mane and bright green eyes. The man he had met the day before known as Dionysus. Next to Dionysus was a light-furred wolf with a blond mane and dark green eyes. Apollon.

To her right stood a grey wolf, slightly darker than Yui, with a lilac mane and delicate snout. His eyes were golden, and Takeru would recognise his brother under any form. Next to him sat a white fox with shiny blue eyes, staring at him severely. Akira.

Finally, next to Akira stood two humans, Thoth and Thor. They looked very small compared to the rest of the pack, but in no way did they seem afraid of them.

Hades crouched and let Takeru slide of his back. The alpha male sat in front of Yui, at a few feet of distance, and Anubis laid down between Thoth and Akira, barely affected by the events.

“ _ Let us begin this meeting that was called by Hades. Hades, please present your case. _ ”


	3. Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is still technically the 20th so I am not late!
> 
> But seriously sorry for the major delay. Meant to post it yesterday, but I started feeling really sick and couldn't manage even as much as open my computer. or play breath of the wild! I just was dead. But! Here's the chapter! It's more of a filler than anything, but I still kind of like it. just for the memes I put in it lmao
> 
> As usual, major thanks to dragon-overlord-yuu! you guys should also check out her fanfics, they're a++
> 
> Don't forget to leave a kudo or a comment at the end, and have a nice time reading this! see you in a month guys!

Everyone looked at Hades. Everyone looked at him with a lot of respect, that Takeru could clearly see. Even his brothers, who were pretty much their opponents in this situation. They all respected Hades as much as the actual pack leader, Yui.

“ _ I asked for a pack meeting to hope we can avoid any discord among us. With the enemies at our door, we cannot afford arguing and fighting within our own pack. Since the last Totsuka brother joined us, and since he decided he was going to be on my team, I have decided we needed to discuss it before this decision created some miscommunication and hatred among our own troops. _ ”

“ _ Very well, _ ” Yui spoke once the man was done, and turned her head toward Takeru’s brothers. “ _ Since you are the ones concerned, plead your cause. _ ”

Tsukito was about to say something, but Akira was quicker. The white fox got to his feet and walked right toward Takeru, who was standing a bit to the side, close to Thor. The fox was slightly taller than Takeru, and his eyes reminded him of when he would get grounded as a kid.

“ _ While I have no problem with Takeru joining Hades’ team, _ ” he started to say, clearly not okay with his brother joining that team, “ _ I wished for him to be on mine, or Tsukito’s team since he is very new to all of this. He is but a human, as far as we know, and wouldn’t stand a chance against the enemy pack. _ ”

“ _ Anything you want to add, Tsukito? _ ” Yui inquired.

But Tsukito only shook his head, while Takeru was feeling the rage burn again within him. He reached for his katana on his shoulder, ready to prove to his brother he could very well take care of himself, but Hades rose and physically put a barrier between the brothers. He didn’t bark nor growl. He simply stared at Akira, who crouched in front of him, almost whimpering. He went back to his place between Thoth and Tsukito, looking down to the ground, his ears against his head.

“ _ This is not a discussion about teams. While I see your concerns, Akira, I think your brother can take care of himself on my team. He has shown extreme vigilance earlier, when I surprised him from behind. I will be in measure to protect him if needed, and I believe Anubis can do the same, _ ” Hades explained, turning inside the circle and talking to the entire pack. “ _ I have given my full consent on him joining my team, and I do not think he will change his mind about it. _ ”

“May I intervene?” Takeru spoke up, slightly tired of everyone speaking in his place.

“ _ Sure, go on Tak. _ ” Yui said cheerfully, like she usually did in her human form.

Sincerely, that was slightly strange.

“Okay, so. I appreciate my brothers concern, and I really do, Akira, but I can get by myself, okay? You’ve been overprotecting me ever since mom and dad died. That’s why I left too. You’ve always been after me, making sure I didn’t do anything reckless. I know you guys worry, but I am now 21 and would very much appreciate it if I could take my decisions alone.”

“ _ Your decisions put you in danger! _ ” Akira barked back.

“I know you have very little faith in me, but do you really have so little in Hades or Anubis?” Takeru calmly replied.

Akira growled and looked away.

“ _ I just don’t want to lose you too… _ ”

“ _ I promise nothing will happen to your brother. And that, I swear on my honor. If I were to break this promise, I will go in exile and never come back. Is that good? _ ”

“ _ Uncle that’s too much of a risk! It’s way too risky! _ ” Apollon exclaimed worriedly.

“ _ I have spoken. Do you have so little faith in me too, Apollon? _ ” Hades appeared serious, but a twinkle in his eyes betrayed his amusement.

“ _ No, of course not…Of course I have faith in you. But this is a big promise! _ ”

“ _ Your words, leader. _ ”

Yui looked uncertain. She knew she had to veto this decision, but she didn’t agree with the terms of it. But the promise had already been made, and Hades could no longer go back on his words.

“ _ You shall look out for Takeru as his teammate, and accompany him if he needs to leave the headquarters. If anything were to happen to him, whether you were present or not, you will have to go through your terms and leave the pack to go in exile, with the possibility of getting back your right to be part of the pack after a while. I have spoken. Meeting dismissed, _ ” Yui hurriedly concluded the session, not wanting anyone to contest her final words.

As they all left toward the Totsuka residence, Takeru looked at Tsukito. He had been awfully quiet the whole time this conversation had lasted. Tsukito and Takeru were also the closest brothers. They had spent a lot of time together as kids, Akira being quite a few years older than them. So Takeru knew very well when his brother was upset.

He slowly walked toward him, but Hades’ long arm-like leg blocked his way as Apollon joined Tsukito, nuzzling his neck with his snout.

“ _ Leave Apollon some time. Tsukito is awfully scared you will end up turned like him. It’s one of his worst fears, and my nephew told me he has quite some nightmares about it. Give them some time. He will probably come to talk to you later tonight anyway. _ ”

Takeru nodded and looked again at his brother. He was leaving with his mate, slowly walking toward the house, but taking the less common path. Hades turned around and started walking toward the house too, Anubis joining him happily.

Takeru successfully looked away from his brother, feeling a bit guilty. But he knew he couldn’t hide in his brothers’ shadows forever. He walked in Hades’ and Anubis’s trail, looking at the ground.

Once they were back home, everyone did their own things on their side. Loki and Balder were playing a game in the living room, Yui was reading with Thor, Dionysus was eating in the kitchen, Akira and Thoth were… apparently in Akira’s old room, at least, that was the guess. Since his shoes were in the hall with all the others, and they were both nowhere to be seen… anyway. And finally, Apollon and Tsukito were in Tsukito’s room.

Takeru looked around the house, wondering what he could possibly do to occupy his time. He… he hadn’t had proper free time in quite a long time. He hadn’t had free time for himself, and there was a reason for that. The moment he was alone, his thoughts always drifted back to his ex-girlfriend, and he hated it. Normally, going out for a run was the ideal, but since he couldn’t leave the house alone, it became problematic. He preferred to run alone, and go at his usual pace, but with someone else that he had to stick with, he’d probably need to slow down. And if that person were to turn into a wolf, he’d have to run in the forest. In itself, he wouldn’t mind, but knowing that there was a possibility of an attack coming from the enemies in the woods, Takeru preferred to stick to the streets.

So running was out of the question. But he didn’t want to do nothing either. He needed to get his mind busy, or he would fall back into his sorrow, and he didn’t want that to happen in front of everyone. He wanted to look his usual, happy self, and not his very sad and broken self. He wasn’t allowed to let them see that.

Hades walked into the house, having dressed up again and tying his hair in a low ponytail. He had his elastic in his mouth and looked at Takeru as the boy stared out into the hallway, thinking. When Hades finished doing his hair, he walked closer to his new friend and gently pushed him.

“The house sure is busy,” he commented as they looked at the others.

“Yeah. It’s strange, after spending so long alone, to be back in this busy house.” Takeru smiled. “Before mom and dad passed away, there would always be other people in this house. Friends, family, and lone travellers. I missed the business…” he paused, not finishing his sentence.

“But you miss the silence of your own little flat, don’t you?”

“Indeed.”

“And, from the look of it, you don’t know what to do right now.”

“Yep.”

“Then come with me, I got stuff to do in town.”

Takeru looked up at Hades. He didn’t really feel like spending time with someone he barely knew, but Hades was nice, and it’s not like he had anything better to do anyway. And Hades would probably have a harder time figuring what was wrong with him than any of his friends, so he was better out of the house. He agreed with a nod, and Hades smiled widely. He went to the front door, put on his shoes and coat and announce they were going into town.

“You’re not going alone, are you?” Yui worried.

“No I am not, Takeru is coming with me. I am still wounded anyway, I cannot afford going alone in the wild again.”

“You’re just going in town, Mr. Death. I doubt they’d attack you there. Checkmate!” Loki said.

“I am not checkmate idiot, look.”

“Awww just pretend you are. I want to win this time.”

“No luck for you. Checkmate. Spend more time actually thinking your move than figuring out how to cheat- and also calling checkmate anytime you want.”

“Boo, you’re boring Balder.”

Takeru heard Balder sigh as he left the house, followed by Hades, who closed the door. He took a moment to stretch, then looked at the new member of the human part of the pack and smiled.

“Anywhere in particular you want to go to?”

“No…”

“Alright then.”

Hades walked over to the garage door and opened it. Inside were two cars, one belonging to the Totsukas, another belonging to god knows who, and a motorcycle. Thinking Hades was taking the unknown car, Takeru started walking for the passenger seat, only to see Hades uncovering the motorcycle and taking two helmets from the shelves. He turned around and handed one to Takeru, who after a few seconds of surprise, gently took the helmet and looked at the man.

“You do not mind if we take my motorcycle right?”

“N-no, not at all. I didn’t think it belonged to you, that’s why I’m surprised.”

Hades smiled, put his helmet on and slowly moved the bike toward the driveway, passed Takeru’s car. He climbed on it and looked back at Takeru, who was still hanging around in the garage.

“Come on, if we want to make it back before dark and still have time to do stuff in town.”

“Right, of course. Sorry,” the boy apologized as he put the helmet on and jogged lightly to the motorcycle.

He climbed on it behind Hades, gently resting his hands on his hips for some sort of grip. Hades started the engine, and they left toward town without ever really deciding where they should go.

Meanwhile, inside, the others were observing through the window what had happened.

“He took his motorcycle,” Yui said, surprised. “I can’t believe he actually did that!”

“It is surprising, especially since he just met Takeru,” Dionysus agreed.

“Maybe he’s not as heartless as we thought,” Loki smiled. “Chec-”

“Don’t you dare say checkmate. We just started this one. I swear this is the last game I play with you.” Balder warned him.

“Hey! You actually are checkmate! Look properly, for once I’m not lying!”

“Oh. How did you even do it?!”

“What’s going on? Why are you all in front of the window? What happened?” Apollon asked cheerfully as he walked in the living room, holding Tsukito by the hand.

“Where’s Takeru?”

“Him and Hades just left,” Thor filled them in. “And Hades took his bike,” he added with a little smile.

“What? Uncle took his motorcycle to go out with Takeru?!” Apollon exclaimed, uselessly running to the window.

“It proves he has some interest in the boy, after all.”

“Do you think it’s the same for your brother?” Dionysus asked Tsukito.

Tsukito shrugged and went to sit on the couch. Yui decided to answer in his place.

“We’ve never really witnessed Takeru in love, so it’s a bit hard to know if he’s interested. All I can tell is he is hiding something, and it’s not feelings for someone he just met,” Yui explained. “It could be related to his recent break-up, I guess. I’ll try to talk with him when they come back,  _ alone. _ ”

She made it clear she didn’t want anyone to eavesdrop their conversation. Ever since they had been children, Takeru had always been able to tell Yui his secrets, and vice versa. They were childhood best friends, and even in his “exile”, Takeru kept in touch with Yui a lot more than with his brothers. She knew a bit more about his last break-up, and how bad it had been. The thing was, she had drove to his place after it happened to comfort him.

“I’m sure he’ll be alright. Hades could be just what he needs,” she whispered to herself, a small, satisfied smile on her lips.

* * *

Takeru had to hold tight on Hades waist, since Hades had a penchant for speed. They sped through the highway and toward town, where he finally slowed down a little.

The man turned a few corner and finally came to a stop in front of an arcade. Since he parked his bike in front of it, and got off of it, turning off the engine and all, Takeru imitated him, a little confused. An… arcade?

“Why are we here?” he asked once his helmet was removed.

“Well,” Hades started, a little embarrassed. “I wanted to come here since I got into town, and Tsukito already mentioned how much you guys spent a lot of time here back when you were still around. I thought you might want to come here a little, to get your mind off of whatever it is on.”

Takeru stared at the guy wide-eyed. Apparently, even a stranger caught on his bad mood. But he was also apparently determined to make that change, and the young boy couldn’t help but blush a little as he looked to the ground.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan…” he mumbled, giving his helmet to Hades, who put them away.

“Then come along,” Hades smiled. “I’m gonna crush you at DDR.”

“Oh do you really think so? Tsukito didn’t tell you everything I guess.”

“Come on, we’ll see who’s the best once we’re in.”

They walked inside and found the place pretty full with people from all kind of ages, from kids to adults. They went for the DDR, but it was currently used by other people, so they decided to wait their turn by spending some of their coins in other machines. After a while and way too many games of Doodle jump, the DDR was finally free. Takeru half ran toward it, like an overexcited child. He jumped on one side, waiting for Hades to get on the other.

Takeru put the coins in the DDR and turned to face Hades.

“You can pick the song. I haven’t played in a few months, but I’m sure I can still beat you.”

“You’re so confident hm. Just let me find it… right there!”

The cursor stopped on ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley. Takeru took a moment and stared at Hades for a moment while the screen loaded.

“Are you really Rick Rolling me right now?” He snorted.

“Me? I would never do that! Careful, the song is starting.” Hades laughed.

They were on Expert mode. As Rick Astley started singing about how he would never give up on his significant other, Takeru focused completely in the game. He started dancing, touching the correct tiles as the arrows came up on the screen.

Since Expert mode was incredibly fast, he hadn’t time to think and just danced to the rhythm of the music, losing himself in the moment. He hadn’t played in a long time, but he hadn’t forgotten anything, and his old moves came back to him. He couldn’t go all out since Hades was next to him, but this was so much fun!

Hades, however, was struggling a little. Not because he was rusty, even if he was just a little, but because Takeru’s intensity in the game was distracting him. He could catch glimpses of him dancing wildly to this song everyone knew and liked to joke about. He did some mistakes… well, quite a lot, since at the end of the song, when they were both pretty sweaty and breathless, the scores appeared on the screen, claiming Takeru as the winner – and by a lot.

“Well,” Hades smiled, “You indeed beat me. Congratulations.”

“I told you I was the best. Can’t believe you Rick Rolled me, though. Up for another game?”

“I’m afraid not. I will need a moment to recover from this game.”

“Well then, it’s my time to shine – again,” Takeru smiled brightly.

He put more coins in the machine and started browsing the songs. Finally, he picked ‘Bring It On, My Destiny” by Key. He placed himself in the middle of the dance floor, between both sides. When the song started, he abandoned himself in the song again, unleashing his moves like he used to back when he was a teenager.

Hades, who was standing to the side, holding his leather jacket in his hands, was looking at the boy go. His face was flush, and he had to admit it wasn’t just because of the dance off he just had. He had taken an interest in Takeru ever since he saw him walk in that very same morning, and especially after their walk through the woods. He didn’t really understand it, but he was drawn to him, like a magnet. He wanted to know him, and to tell him it was going to be alright, since he could see the boy was having a rough time. But seeing him enjoying his game of Dance Dance Revolution so much, it made him happy. Takeru had obviously been going through a rough time, and then when he came back to what was supposed to be his old life with his old friends, he found himself thrown into some wild story.

Hades understood this could be very destabilizing, and was surprised by how well Takeru had taken everything.

The song finished and Takeru stood still on the DDR as his score showed up. He was grinning as he entered his usual name, and saw he still held the record on the game. Takeru turned around and looked at Hades… and the little crowd now cheering for him.

“Look! It’s the famous Tak!” someone in the crowd said, making others murmur in admiration.

“That was quite a show you put up there,” Hades said as Takeru walked toward him, greeting the others with a small hand wave, a little embarrassed that he attracted so much attention.

“Yeah… I didn’t think people would start looking at me.”

“You dance pretty well, so it’d normal they’d stare at your marvelous skills.”

“It’s loads of training, and a lot of wasted money from my childhood, I must admit,” Takeru laughed.

They left the DDR machine and walked toward the exit, not sure of what to do. It was getting pretty late, and they should probably go back home, but at the same time…

“I have one more thing I want to do before going back,” Hades admitted as he put on his coat. “I hope you don’t mind…”

“No! No not at all, it’s alright. I didn’t really want to go home right away anyway.”

“Then come on, you’re going to love this,” Hades said.

They walked out of the arcade into the cold night, Takeru zipping up his swimming jacket. He took the helmet Hades was offering him again and put it on. He climbed behind the man as he revved up his engines, ready to leave to go to one of his favorite spot in town. He drove through the empty streets and toward the river that circled the city. There was a specific place around those parts that he particularly liked to visit, and he was sure it was somewhere familiar for Takeru, since Tsukito and Yui were the ones to show him this place.

After 10 minutes, they crossed a bridge and went up the way to the top of the cliff. He parked his motorcycle in the parking lot, and Takeru nearly jumped off it, removing his helmet at the speed of light.

Takeru ran for the rail that was keeping anyone from jumping into the cold water below, climbed on the railing and looked at the city below him, a smile on his face.

“Isn’t this place the nicest on earth,” he sighed happily when Hades came and pressed his arms against the railing too.

“It is a very nice place. Ever since your brother and Yui showed it to me, I cannot help but come here once in a while. It is so calm and beautiful…”

“My parents used to take us here when we were kids. We’d get an ice cream cone in summer time and come here to eat it. It was one of the only time we all perfectly got along. Well, I mean, me and my brothers. I was always fine with Tsukito, but I have my problems with Akira. And well, we argued a lot, and Tsukito didn’t like it at all. Our parents would have to intervene so we didn’t start fighting or make Tsukito cry.”

“Siblings can be a real pain. I perfectly understand you on that point.”

“You have siblings?” Takeru asked, surprised, then remembered Apollon would call him uncle. “Wait no, that’s stupid to ask. Of course you do.”

“I have an older brother and a younger brother. My older brother, Zeus, is the father of Apollon and Dionysus. My younger brother is called Poseidon.”

“I need to meet your brother,” Takeru said bluntly.

“What, why?” Hades chuckled, surprised.

“Well, his name is Poseidon, my name is Susanoo… we have to meet.”

“Your name is Susanoo? I believe I am a little confused right now.”

“Right, you weren’t there yesterday. Long story short, me and my bros are named after Japanese gods, and I got Susanoo, god of sea and storms in Japanese myth.”

“Then you and Poseidon in the same room is not a good idea.”

“Eh, why not?”

“You two will wreck everything, I am sure of it. If you are just a little like him, and from what I have seen, you are just as unpredictable as he is, it is going to be hell.”

Takeru snorted. “I’m not that bad!”

They laughed together for a moment, then enjoyed a few minutes of silence. Hades looked at his watch and saw it was already pretty late. Almost 8:30 pm.

“We should head back. The others will worry,” he said, and Takeru nodded.

“Yeah. Plus I’m exhausted right now. I’ll try not to fall off your bike.”

“Please do not fall off my bike. And do not fall asleep on it, that would be very dangerous,” Hades worried.

“I’m joking, Hades. I won’t fall asleep. Now come on, I’m also pretty hungry…”

“Yeah we haven’t really eaten anything today…” Hades agreed.

They walked back to the motorcycle, and Takeru stopped as he put his helmet on, staring at the ground.

“Hey, Hades,” he called as the man climbed on his vehicle. “I just… wanted to say thank you for tonight. It did get my mind off of what it was on, and it was really nice.”

Hades felt his face flush and turned around, his heart beating a little quicker in his chest.

“Oh hum, it’s nothing. Thank you for coming with me, I had a lot of fun at getting wrecked at DDR too.”

“I’ll let you win next time,” Takeru laughed as he finished putting the helmet on and climbed back behind Hades.

On the way back, Hades drove much slower than he had when they first left. It made Takeru a little mad. He enjoyed Hades’ company a lot. A lot more than he first thought, and he felt like things were already rushing. Tonight had every point of a date, and Takeru didn’t like it. Well, he enjoyed the night, but not the fact it could be considered a date. He was always rushing into his relationship, and he believed that’s why the last one ended so… so badly… and if he did have his chances with the man he saved, then he didn’t want to rush into this relationship. It was too soon, and he felt that the long ride was just ruining his determination.

Finally, they reached the house. The living room’s light was on, but beside that, the house seemed to be pitch black. Takeru got off the motorcycle and removed his helmet, ruffling his hair as he handed it in to Hades so he could put it away.

“Thanks again for tonight, it was fun,” the boy smiled as they headed back home.

“Sure, no problem. You seemed to need some cheering up. I did the best I could.”

Takeru simply smiled and walked in the house. He removed his shoes and hung his swimming jacket and walked inside the living room, only to find Yui reading. She was alone, and the house was awfully quiet compared to when they left that morning.

“I was starting to worry,” Yui admitted when she saw him walk in.

“We just went to the arcade and the cliff, no big deal. We went nowhere near the woods. Where are the others?” Takeru inquired.

“Thoth and Akira went back to their flat, Anubis is patrolling with Apollon and Tsukito, and Loki and Balder went back to their flat too. Oh and Dionysus and Thor went out to buy more alcohol because Dio said there wasn’t much left.”

“Do you mind if I use the shower?” Hades asked as he walked in too.

“No, go ahead. You know where it is?” Takeru asked.

“Yeah I do.”

“Alright then.”

The man left, leaving the two best friends alone in the living room. Yui motioned at Takeru to come sit next to her, and knowing very well it was futile to try to run away, the boy sat down next to her, ready for the interrogatory.

“Okay, ask your questions, it’s your only chance. I don’t really want to talk about it, but I know you won’t let it go until I do so. This is the only time I’ll talk about it alright?”

“Understood. I just… want to know how you’ve been doing.”

“I’m managing. It’s hard, but I worked all day and trained at night then went to bed. I didn’t give myself much time to think of her.”

“But now that you’re here…”

“Yeah, because of this whole pack war story, I may end up with more time to think. Unless you allow me to go running alone.”

“I mean, no one is stopping you, but… it’s really dangerous, and you would just put yourself in danger, worry your brothers and put Hades in a delicate position.”

Takeru groaned as he sank in the sofa, pouting. He was unhappy with the whole thing, and he felt like he was becoming grumpier and grumpier.

“Do you still hurt?”

“What?”

“Where… you know, she hit you?”

“Oh.” He pressed a hand to his side. “No, of course not. It healed completely. Sometimes I feel like it stings a little, but that’s silly isn’t it? Anyway. It’s behind me and I’ve learnt my lesson.”

“The others expect me to tell them a little of what happened. I said I’d talk to you…” Yui admitted shyly.

“Whatever. Don’t say the worst. Just the great line. Don’t mention the stab or that you came to help me out after. My brothers would never forgive me. And they’d never let me date anyone again if they knew the whole thing.”

“Don’t say that! They’re just worried about you… I know they’re a little overprotective of their little brother, but you are reckless and stubborn and impulsive. You get yourself into some impossible stuff, and they honestly have many reasons to be worried about your case. But they also love you and miss you a lot. You’ve been gone for 5 years, Takeru, and Akira feels a bit guilty about it.”

“Not my problem,” Takeru huffed. “Alright I’ll admit I’m not easy to contain, let’s say, but I need my liberty. I can take my decisions and that’s what Akira doesn’t seem to get.”

“I know,” Yui sighed.

It was not the first time they had the same kind of conversation. Takeru, very much like the god whom he take his first name from, was like the sea. Incontrollable, impulsive and unpredictable. He was nice and kind, and loved to joke with his friends, but he was easily angered and could hold grudges forever. He was also very independent and loved his freedom, something his big brother didn’t seem to think he could have apparently.

“Do you have any other questions or can I go eat something?”

“I just want you to know that you don’t have to be scared that you won’t ever love again, okay? I’m sure it’s gonna happen when the times come.”

“Whatever. I don’t need someone to be happy.”

He left the room a little angry and went straight for the kitchen. Yui sighed and closed her eyes as Hades came down the stairs and into the room.

“Is everything alright?”

“I hope. You’ll take good care of Takeru, right?”

Hades blushed and started stuttering. “I-I mean, yes I will as his teammate. Of course I will take care of him.”

Yui smiled at the man’s bashfulness. She was not going to press on the subject, but they all new Hades probably had a crush on the boy, and it was possible it was the same for Takeru. If they could help each other out in overcoming their fears, then it wasn’t such a bad thing that they ended up in the same team.

“I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow guys,” Takeru said as he went upstairs with a plate full of chips and a sandwich.

“Good night, Takeru,” Hades and Yui both said at the same time.

They exchanged a look, hoping the next day might bring new ideas and better moods for everyone.


	4. Pause

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I uploaded Repair, yet here I am, months later, with the fourth chapter. I've... gotten interested again in the story, and finishing it someday... but anyway. As always, thank you ever so much dragon-overlord-yuu for the beta! Now, enjoy! Not much happens, but still some cute interractions between my dear boys!

Morning rose on this little part of the country, making the water drops in the trees and on the grass glitter in the morning sun.

Takeru woke up at 5 in the morning, and started his morning routine. First off, a quick, cold shower, just to wake up. Second was getting dressed into gym clothes. Normally, he would go out for a run around the neighborhood, but since that was slightly impossible in the current moment, he had settled for training in the basement, just like when he was younger. He did his usual warm ups, running up and down the stairs, jumping jacks, skipping rope, and other exercises for 5 minutes. He then jumped on treadmill and did his usual running routine.

After a good hour, he got off the machine and did his warm downs, stretching his legs mostly. Usually, he would also do some working out, but since his weights were still in their boxes, it would have to wait.

Finally, he went back upstairs, took another shower, got dressed for the day and went in the kitchen. He found Tsukito, Akira, Apollon and Thoth sitting at the table, eating their breakfast and talking casually. Takeru was, surprisingly, saddened by the absence of Hades.

“Good morning,” he mumbled as he went for fridge, where he grabbed the bottle of orange juice.

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?” Akira smiled.

“I slept fine. I thought you went back to your flat?”

“Oh we did, but I’m on patrol duty this morning and thought I’d come by to check on you.”

Takeru bit his tongue so he would not say something he might regret later, even if he really wanted to do so.

“Where’s Yui?”

“Patrolling with Hades. Since there are humans on the teams, we had to change the patrol group so it would work for everyone.” Tsukito answered as he ate his eggs.

Or, to reformulate, he was stuck with his brothers and forced to confront them again. He didn’t particularly want to talk to Akira, but he felt he and Tsukito should talk… again. He had been so silent the day before, there seemed to be a lot to be said.

“Well! I should be off now. I’ll see  _ you _ later,” Akira said and kissed Thoth on the lips. “And I’ll see you two later too. Have a good day!”

“Wait, you’re going alone?” Takeru asked, surprised.

“Oh, you do worry for me! How surprising. But no, if you look just outside, Dionysus is there, on the phone, and waiting for me to be ready. Bye bye!”

He left happily, hid behind the curtains placed outside so he could change and morph into a fox without making a show. But Dionysus didn’t mind showing off and just removed his clothes in front of the others, who politely looked anywhere else but outside.

Takeru sat down and started eating his cereal in silence. It was pretty awkward around the table right now, mostly due to Thoth’s imposing presence. Finally, the man said he had some research to do and would be in the office upstairs. Only Takeru, Tsukito, and Apollon were left around the table.

After a few minutes of pure silence, except for the munching noises and the clanging of the utensils against bowls and plates, Apollon decided he needed a shower.

“I’ll be back in a little while, don’t worry,” he said as he kissed Tsukito’s forehead.

“I’m not worried you’ll get attacked in our bathroom,” Tsukito sighed.

“Just making sure.”

“You, sir, are impossible.”

Takeru tried to hide himself in his bowl, grimacing with disgust. Loki was right. Did they have to be always so… lovey-dovey in front of everyone? Mates or not, it was a little hard for Takeru to look at them. He was glad both his brothers had found love and were happy with their partner, but he also wished they wouldn’t be so open about it in front of him. Then again, he couldn’t blame them since they didn’t know his whole story.

Finally, Apollon left after exchanging quite a few kisses with Tsukito. Now, only the two brothers were left, and the silence was heavier than ever. As Takeru finished his cereals, he decided to speak up before his brother left.

“Does it bother you so much that I’m teamed up with Hades and Anubis, and not you or Akira?” he asked casually, trying not to sound bothered.

“It’s more of a relief, really,” Tsukito answered after a little pause.

“It doesn’t sound like it’s a relief to you, I must say. You didn’t speak up yesterday, and I know you were about to.”

Tsukito looked outside at the forest, feeling guilty. His expression had soften a little, even if he still looked like his usual, stoic self.

“I just… I don’t even think that you going with me or Akira would have been better. Hades is the strongest of us all, and Anubis has one of the best noses. They could find you in an instant, before you were even hurt to be fair.”

“But?”

“I guess I’m just worried for you, like Akira is. You just came back, and we were not going to throw you in our little mess. We wanted to introduce you gradually to this new life. And it would have been okay if you hadn’t left the party early. I wished I had been able to keep you from leaving alone…”

Oh. That’s what was wrong. He blamed himself for not telling Takeru sooner, for not being able to protect him the first day he came back to the city. He felt bad for doing that to his brother.

“Bro… Don’t blame yourself, it’s not your fault…” Takeru rose and moved around the table to sit next to his brother, hugging him. “It’s not your fault at all. And I’m fine, you see? Nothing broken, nothing hurts. Plus, I’m fine with this whole story now.”

It wasn’t true, but he wanted his brother to feel better. He didn’t want his brother to blame himself for anything he had done, out of his own will and recklessness.

“Tsuki, please don’t hold it against yourself, okay? It’s going to be alright. We’re both going to be fine. And I’ll deal with Akira when I need to, alright?”

Tsukito gave him a small smile and turned around so he could hug him back. “Alright, I’ll try not to blame myself too much.”

“So what are you doing this morning?”

“Uh. Sleeping. I just came to eat something but now I’m going to bed. Sorry…”

“Nah it’s alright. You were out patrolling all night anyway, I understand your need for sleep.”

“See you later,” Tsukito smiled and left the kitchen, obviously tired from his sleepless night.

Takeru was now all alone with his unfinished cereal, wondering what he should do. He wanted to get out of the house, but without anyone to accompany him, he couldn’t really do it. But if he was quick enough, he could probably make it back before the others. Their patrols seemed pretty long, and they had just left. So he could probably go hide in the forest for a while, practice his sword fighting techniques, and come back without anyone noticing. Plus, if he had his katana with him, he was more than safe.

With that idea in mind, he climbed upstairs, grabbed his sword resting against his wall, and left through the backdoor. He wasn’t going to go far in the forest. Somewhere around his treehouse would be perfect.

Setting out at a good pace, he arrived in no time at his sanctuary. Everything was calm in the forest, the birds were happily chirping in the trees, any animal living around here was probably hiding or hunting for food. It was pretty peaceful. Exactly what Takeru needed.

First, he sat on the ground and started meditating before getting to practice. He cleared his mind from any disturbing thoughts, focusing on what he needed to do.

After a few minutes, he got to his feet, unsheathed his katana, and placed himself in his stance. He started moving his sword in front of him, pretending there was a dummy.

He went on, not paying attention to his surroundings. He had heard a branch crack behind him, but he thought it was just some animal passing by. Nothing to worry about, right?

Oh dear, was he wrong. As he turned around with his sword, Takeru found himself face to face with a wolf with a blond, curly mane. It looked a little like Hades, yet completely different. The look in its eyes was bloodthirsty and one of the scariest things Takeru had ever seen.

Quickly, he raised his sword and slashed at the wolf, who just jumped slightly to the side, growling. It walked toward Takeru, baring his teeth. The young man kept his cool, slowly backing up as he kept his stance as best as he could. He was waiting for an opening, a moment where he could attack again.

The bloodthirsty beast charged him, and Takeru did the same. He attacked the beast with his sword, wounding him on his arm. They exchanged hits, Takeru with his sword, the wolf with its claws. Unfortunately, since the sword wasn’t made of silver, it barely did any damage. The wolf easily disarmed its opponent, sending the katana flying away. Takeru looked back at the wolf in terror, placing himself in combat stance, ready to go down fighting.

He should run away. He knew that. He was crazy trying to fight an all-powerful werewolf who could easily beat him. But still… he knew he didn’t stand a chance running away either. He was doomed, and this was his fault. He shouldn’t have gone outside alone after all…

Suddenly, a loud bark was heard coming from his left, and the next thing he knew, he was being transported in another wolf’s mouth, only holding by the collar of his sweatshirt. He was then dropped to the ground, and his savior placed himself in front of Takeru protectively.

“ _ This is not your territory, Zeus! Leave right away!” _

“ _ Can’t a brother come say hi to his own brother anymore? _ ”

“ _ Not when he is trespassing. You have nothing to do here. Just leave.” _

_ “I wanted to meet your new friend. Quite a strong scent he has! The last of the Totsuka clan, if I’m not mistaken?”  _ Zeus insisted, taking a step forward.

Hades barked at him, raising high on his hind legs, glaring at the other wolf. Takeru was looking at them, breathless. He didn’t dare make a sound. He couldn’t even make one. He was so scared, so… terrified!

“ _ Leave. Right now. You are trespassing and breaking the treaty we had,”  _ Hades growled.

_ “Oh, dear brother, it’s been broken for a long time already. I just came here to warn you. Be prepared, for a storm is coming.” _

And with that, Zeus left, running back to where he was from. Hades and Takeru both stayed immobile for a few minutes, before Hades let himself fall on all four legs and turned around, growling at Takeru.

“ _ What are you doing here alone?!” _

“I… I thought I would be fine… I just wanted to practice sword play a little, and everyone else was busy…”

Takeru was fighting back tears. He wouldn’t let himself cry, since he didn’t want to appear weaker than he already seemed in front of Hades. But he just had the scare of his life.

“I… I’m sorry, I didn’t want to cause any trouble…”

Hades sighed heavily and turned around. He shifted back to his human form, ending up completely naked, save for a bag over his shoulder, which had been there in his wolf form. He quickly rummaged through it, getting out a pair of boxers and sweatpants, putting them on rapidly. He put on a t-shirt too, and finally turned around to face Takeru. He didn’t look angry at all, just very annoyed and worried. He extended his hand toward the boy and helped him get to his feet.

“Look. This was extremely reckless of you. I do hope you will not attempt to repeat this experience ever again. I know it’s probably hard and you feel confined, but seriously, it’s for your own good. My brother will not have any pity next time.”

“Right…”

Hades started walking back toward the house, backpack on his shoulder. His hair were loose and dancing in curls over his shoulders, dead leaves stuck in them. Takeru shyly followed him as he stared at the ground, his katana by his side. He was so embarrassed! He thought he was strong enough, but his pride made him underestimate his enemies.

They reached the house and walked in without meeting anyone. Apparently, Yui wasn’t back yet, and Apollon and Tsukito were probably sleeping together.

“I’ll try to get night patrol more often, so you’re not stuck at home during the day,” Hades announced as he dropped his bag down by the door, grabbing a fruit in the fridge and walking toward the living room.

“When are you going to sleep if you do that?” Takeru inquired as he followed him, dropping his katana by the stairs.

“I can go without sleep for a little while. I just need to meditate a little every day and I’m fine.”

“I don’t need someone to supervise me 24/7,” Takeru protested.

“Obviously you do, you disobeyed the rules and almost got killed on your third day back home. Akira would have murdered me.”

“You shouldn’t have made that promise of going into exile if something were to happen to me, it’s stupid.”

“Oh I didn’t do it just to convince your brothers, you know. I felt your temperament when you stormed out of the house. I was hoping the fact you had my life on the line would make you less reckless. Obviously that didn’t work out.”

“I… am also very impulsive, so I didn’t really think of that.”

“Yep. Kind of realized that. But now, I will keep you under my eyes most of the time, so there should be no problem.”

“Yay. Another babysitter. Lucky me.” Takeru sarcastically said as he sat down on the couch, obviously angry. “As if I needed someone else to restrict me.”

“Hey, don’t be so angry. I was joking. I know you hold your freedom very dearly. I just do not want you going out again, when this time I may not be able to help you.”

“Was that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Not really. It is just information.”

Takeru huffed as he brought his knees to his chest, hugging them.

“I’m tired of feeling caged in this fucking house. I should just move out again.”

“I… am really sorry, but that would not solve anything. It would probably only make it worse. Knowing Zeus, he would hunt you down just to hurt us. And he probably guessed you were our weakness right now.”

“Well, sorry for that. I never asked to be anyone’s weakness. But it always comes back to that, doesn’t it.”

Hades sighed. He was doing a very poor job of cheering up Takeru. He glanced at him, and just wanted to hug the poor thing. Takeru looked miserable, sitting on the couch, curled up on himself as he hugged his knees. There seemed to be tears in his eyes, but judging from Takeru’s strong character and obvious pride, he knew he wouldn’t cry. He would keep it in, until he would explode.

He didn’t quite understand why he was so drawn toward Takeru. He barely knew him, and Takeru was not really the type of person he usually hung out with. He was a lot more sportive, a lot more impulsive than him. Takeru seemed more like the type of person to attack and ask questions after, unlike Hades, who would ask questions first, then attack. Yet… he couldn’t deny his attraction toward the guy. He was cute and pretty funny too. His lovely energy surely brought a breath of fresh air in this house, where everything was now pretty much a routine and pretty dull.

“You are not anyone’s weakness, Takeru,” he finished by sighing, a gentle hand resting on Takeru’s back. “Things have just been pretty complicated these past months, and you coming back was just bad timing. But it is not your fault either that you were just thrown into this.”

There was a long pause while Takeru tried to find his voice. He didn’t expect Hades to pat him on the back, and somehow that made him flustered. The touch was so gentle and kind, it took him off guard completely.

“Thanks,” he breathed, closing his eyes. “I’ll… try very hard not to give free reign to my impulsions…”

Hades smiled and crossed his arms, sitting back on the couch, staring at the wall and closed TV in front of them.

“What do you want to do this morning?” He asked after a few minutes of silence.

“I don’t know… I thought I’d use my first few days to catch up with my friends and brothers, but since those plans were savagely thrown away, I don’t really have anything to do right now.”

“Do you want to go back to the arcade?”

“It’s most likely not even open yet, Hades.”

“Ah… true, it is still fairly early. Then… do you want to play a game? Everyone has been bringing a bunch of games here, since it kind of became our headquarters.”

“Is there a card game or anything?”

“There is about 3 card games in the house, because we either play some huge games that requires more than one card game, or everyone wants to play a different game, so we end up splitting into groups. I’ll go fetch one. Just wait in the kitchen.”

“Why the kitchen?” Takeru frowned.

“That’s pretty much the only place we can play?” Hades replied.

“I don’t want to see Akira again today. Let’s just go into my room to play.”

“Alright, if that’s what you want…”

Hades promptly left to go get the game, while Takeru climbed upstairs and toward his room. He didn’t know why he proposed to play in his room. He liked being alone with Hades, and he didn’t want to be disturbed by anyone else while they played and chatted. He just wanted to talk with someone who didn’t know his past and who wouldn’t question him on anything that happened before.

Meanwhile, Hades was taking his very sweet time finding the card game. He could feel his cheeks burning as he looked for the cards. He didn’t really understand why the idea of being alone with Takeru in his room made him so flustered. He didn’t understand why and how he could have fallen so quick for the boy. It had only been three days, but ever since he had been saved by him, he couldn’t get him out of his head. He remembered some times of lucidity where he saw him tend to his wounds, before Apollon came back. The bravery he had shown there, just the fact that despite being terrified, he bandaged him and made sure his wounds wouldn’t get infected… No one had ever been like that before with him. Yes of course, the others cared and he knew he could count on them if he was wounded. But Takeru didn’t know werewolves existed, and he didn’t even know Hades was on his side. He just saw someone wounded (and naked) and took it upon him to help this person, even if said person had just turned back from being a gigantic, strangely proportioned wolf.

“Fuck,” Hades whispered as he grabbed the game.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a few seconds, trying to cool down, and finally went upstairs. He guessed Takeru’s room was the one with the door opened, so he went toward it and walked in, brandishing the game triumphantly, a big smile on his face.

“We may have 3 games, but with Loki in the house, it’s impossible to find them quickly. He always leaves them wherever he last used them. Then we’re stuck to look for the card games if we need them,” he explained as he sat down on the bed, in front of Takeru, who was laughing gently.

“He’s the worst when comes the time to clean up. It was like that back when I was still living here. Glad to hear that hasn’t changed.”

“Alright, what game are we playing?”

“Oh right. I don’t know, anything. What games do you guys usually play?”

“Depends on how many we are.”

“Alright then…. Go fish?”

“I… okay sure, if that’s what you want to play…”

Hades starting shuffling the cards, slightly confused. Go Fish wasn’t really the kind of game he usually played, but if that’s what Takeru wanted to play, then that’s what they were going to do.

He distributed the cards and created the lake with what remained. The game started calmly as they stole card from each other, and picking one up from the middle. It was pretty silent, except for the questions now and then. Finally, Hades gathered up the courage to ask what he had been dying to know for a while now.

“Why did you decide to come back here anyway?”

There was a long pause, and Takeru’s mood seem to darken a little as he picked up a card and added it to his hand.

“It’s kind of a long story,” he half whispered, hoping this would be enough to keep Hades from asking any more questions.

“Alright then.”

Takeru looked up, surprised. He was used to anyone else from his old gang asking him more questions, despite him answering that he didn’t really want to talk about it. But now… Hades wasn’t even trying to push the subject any further!

“Is something wrong?” Hades asked, puzzled, since Takeru hadn’t moved in a little while now.

“I… I’m just surprised… that you just leave it at that, and not ask any other questions.”

“Well, I know how annoying it is when someone asks questions when you obviously don’t want to answer them, so I will not force you to tell me. Apollon is good with that. When I’m in a ‘down’ moment, he will not stop asking questions until I tell him what is wrong, even if it is against my will at first. And well, we haven’t known each other for very long and you may not want to talk to me about it specifically.”

“Well then, thank you… Wow this is kind of unexpected, I’ll admit,” Takeru snorted. “Got any four of hearts?”

“Damn it,” Hades sighed as he handed 3 cards to Takeru, who was grinning widely as he placed the four cards in front of him.

Only one card remained in the middle, 2 in Hades’ hands and 1 in Takeru’s. He had won the game, even if Hades would get his last card, since he had more piles of cards in front of him than Hades did. He looked smugly at Hades, proud.

“Want a rematch?” he asked.

“Oh you bet I want a rematch!” Hades exclaimed. “But I am not shuffling the cards.”

“Alright,” Takeru smiled as he grabbed the cards.

He shuffled them and redistributed the cards. They started a new game, the atmosphere slightly lighter than before as they chatted casually. They talked about different things, and found some common interest, such as poetry, books and certain TV shows.

Time passed as they played, not disturbed by anything as their friendship grew. Takeru was more and more at ease with Hades. It felt good to be able to say what he thought, what he liked and disliked, without having to explain why necessarily. Hades knew near to nothing about his past, and especially not about his most recent failures, made things somewhat easier.

It was late in the afternoon when they decided to put the cards away and go back downstairs. They were laughing and joking around as the left the second floor. They were surprised to find their friends sitting in the living room, talking in hushed tones.

“Where were you guys?” Yui asked, apparently worried.

“Just in my bedroom, playing Go Fish. Did something happen?” Takeru asked.

He looked around, but everyone seemed to be there, beside Loki and Balder. Akira and Dionysus were back from their patrol, and Thor was standing by the window, looking outside.

“Ah, no, not at all. We were just summarizing what happened during our patrols,” Akira explained with a sigh. “That is to say, nothing actually happened. We picked up on the other Alpha’s smell at one point, but it disappeared quickly.”

Takeru stiffened and looked away. He felt guilty. He… he seriously didn’t think it would be such a problem to go out there and practice, but he hadn’t considered everyone else. In his defense, he knew nothing about their enemies. He didn’t think they would dare attack him so close to the HQ!

A hand fell on his shoulder, surprising him. He looked up to see Hades looking at the others, a smile on his face.

“I had a small encounter with him. He tried to talk me into coming back. He knows how valuable I am, without wanting to sound arrogant. Plus, since I know all our strategies, it is obvious he’d go for me. I chased him away and warned him not to come again.” Hades explained.

A sigh of relief left Takeru’s lips, without him meaning to. Oh dear, he was so glad Hades lied. Telling the truth to the others would only have added fuel to the fire, and he probably would have started quarrelling with Akira again, which he wanted to avoid at all cost. He was tired of always fighting with his brother. He wished Akira would see him as the adult he actually was. He wished Akira would see he was responsible and could deal with himself, even when he got into trouble because of his impulsiveness and recklessness. Takeru knew Akira meant well, but he was done with always having him on his back.

“We should organize a new meeting with the leaders of the pack,” Thoth spoke up, surprising the crowd. “They’ve been trespassing way too much in the past few days. They want something, and I’m afraid they’re going to hurt innocents to get it.”

There was a moment of silence. No one dared speak. They knew lives could be at stakes at this moment. Takeru hadn’t quite grasped just how bad the situation was until now.

“Shouldn’t we find a way to evacuate the town? Get everyone to safety?” He asked.

“Too complicated and way too obvious. They would soon realize what we’re trying to do and just attack in plain daylight,” Tsukito sighed, sitting back in his chair, eyes closed. “We’ve thought it through.”

“I should meet up with Zeus and talk to him. I should be the one to do it,” Apollon said, determined.

“Fuck no,” Hades snorted. “Even if you’re his son, he won’t hesitate to hurt you, and you know it, Apollon. Same goes to you, Dionysus.”

“Oh, I’m aware. I wasn’t going to volunteer.”

“You three, stop right now. No one will go  _ alone _ , that’s for sure,” Yui cut in. “If we’re to organize a new meeting with them, Hades will lead the operation. Zeus refuses to speak to anyone else but him.”

Takeru opened his mouth. He wanted to say he would go too. He would be part of that mission. But before any sound could even pass his lips, Akira cut him right up.

“Oh no, young man. You are definitely not going to meet with the other pack, don’t even think about it.”

“Are you done pretending you’re mom and dad? Cause you’re none of them, and you’re a fucking pain in the ass,” Takeru spat out angrily. “I can take my decisions myself, Akira, whether you like it or not.”

Takeru felt Hades’ grip on his shoulder tightening. He looked up to meet Hades’ eyes, only to see the man was looking at Akira, and not him. Was he warning him to drop it? Or was he just angry at Akira?

“No decision has been taken. Yui, as pack leader, will decide of the team. Who she picks should not be discussed by any of us. But before we get to it, we need to arrange the actual meeting with Zeus, and that won’t be possible before a few days.”

“How come?” Dionysus asked, puzzled.

“He will most likely be away for at least a week, after our encounter today. He will not dare come back so close to the headquarters until he has organized back up and has a plan to take me, or any of us, by surprise.”

“Meeting dismissed. Who’s turn is it for patrol duty?” Yui asked as she stood up.

“It’s me, I believe, and Tsukito,” Anubis smiled sweetly.

“I’ll go too, if that’s not a problem. I’m not on patrol duty tonight,” Apollon added.

“Sure. Go ahead, and report anything suspicious as soon as you can,” Yui said. “And take care, boys.”

“We will!” Anubis sang as he half ran toward the door.

Apollon and Tsukito followed, hand in hand as they walked toward the kitchen. Thoth claimed to have unfinished business upstairs, and that he needed to tend to it. Dionysus, Thor and Yui decided to go out and buy something for dinner.

The only ones left in the living room were Akira, sitting on the couch, boiling with anger as he stared at Takeru, who was still standing in the doorway with Hades’ hand on his shoulder.

“You two seem to have grown pretty close in the span of the last few days,” the fox spirit commented.

“We did chat nicely this morning and afternoon, so I guess we did grow a little closer,” Hades smiled.

He let go of Takeru’s shoulder, which saddened Takeru, who thought the touch was nice and comforting, especially since he knew what was coming.

“And right now, I think it is the both of you who need to have a nice and long chat. Do you not agree, Takeru?” Hades said as he motioned toward him, inviting him to take a seat too.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Takeru coldly replied.

He sat down on the chair next to the one Hades had chosen, placed right in front of the couch Akira was using. The atmosphere was cold, and time seemed to be frozen as the two brothers had some sort of staring contest.

“Then, let’s talk.”

 


	5. Quarrel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm trying to update every once in a while, as a way to motivate myself to continue writing this AU. Things are not easy at work and pretty stressful, but somehow this normally helps calm me down! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, and as always thanks to dragon-overlord-yuu for the beta!!! thanks for reading this fic, I hope you guys enjoy it <3

“I’m not quite sure as to why you’re staying for this chat, Hades,” Akira admitted after long, painful minutes of silence.

“I’m here to make sure you do not kill each other in the process.”

“We can manage ourselves, thank you very much,” Akira curtly replied.

“I want him to stay,” Takeru spoke up. “It’s better for the both of us.”

Akira sighed and nodded angrily. He knew his brother’s impulsiveness, and his tendency to end his quarrels with his fist. They had gotten in many fist fights as children, so having Hades to calm them down might not be such a bad idea.

“Akira, I think you should start,” Hades chimed in, since no one spoke.

There was another pause as Akira continued to stare at his youngest brother. He had spent the last five years worrying about him, trying to get some news every now and then, without much success. He didn’t understand why Takeru had left the house. He didn’t think he was being overprotective toward him! The boy was impulsive and reckless. He constantly got into trouble, and he needed someone to control him. With their parents gone, that chore had fallen on Akira’s shoulders.

“You need to stop thinking you’re invincible Takeru. You’re just a human in this. Meeting with the leader of the other pack? Are you mad? What would you do against them?” Akira let out a humorless laugh. “It’s sad to admit, but you are powerless here, Takeru, and you need to follow the rules like everyone else. It would be good if, for once, you tried to actually follow them, and not break them.”

Takeru glared. He felt his anger rising in him again. He tightened his hands into fists, counted to three in his head as he took deep breaths.

“You know,” he said between gritted teeth, “I thought I had missed you. I thought I missed being with you and Tsukito. We’re brothers after all. I thought in the last five years, you had changed just as much as I had. Guess I was wrong. You’re as controlling as ever. If I do a small step that you don’t like, it’s the end of the world, and I’m a failure. I’m a burden to you ever since mom and dad passed away, and you’ve made that very clear.”

It was Akira’s turn to glare. But anger was mixing with sadness as he stared at his brother.

“I was left with two young children. I was expected to take care of the both of you, when I, myself, was still a child! What was I supposed to do? I tried to raise you both like our parents would do, and I… I didn’t know what to do! I was sad and grieving, but I had to put that aside, to protect you and Tsukito. I…” His voice broke as he looked away, eyes filling up with water.

Akira breathed in and out a few times, threw his hair back and cleared his throat. He tried to speak again, but wasn’t able to do so.

“Aki…” Takeru sighed.

His look softened. He still felt angry, but seeing his brother close to tears sure made him feel bad. And so he stood up and walked the small distance between him and his brother. He sat down next to him, and awkwardly put an arm around his shoulders. Akira looked at him, too surprised to say anything.

“I’m grateful for what you did for me and Tsukito. We both know you sacrificed a lot, even if as children we didn’t realize it. But Akira, I am 21. I’ve been living up on my own for five bloody years! Don’t you think I am able to take my own decisions now?”

“I know you can, but you end up hurt so often! I’m worried about you, Takeru! I don’t want to lose you too…”

Takeru felt like Akira didn’t just mean their parents. He obviously felt guilty for not having been able to protect Tsukito from getting bitten three years ago.

Three years ago, he was in Takeru’s shoes. He was the only human around, and he couldn’t help his brother with his new nature. He felt like he had failed somewhere. Knowing his brothers, Akira and Tsukito probably grew distant as Tsukito spent more and more time with Apollon as he learned about his new life. And Akira probably felt more and more helpless as he saw his little brother go outside and risk his life for the sake of their town, for  _ his _ sake.

And Takeru only realized now that for two years, Akira was alone. He had been gone and Tsukito had been turned and spent more time with the pack. Takeru felt stupid for only realizing this right now. But he was also tired of his brother’s overprotectiveness, even if the feeling was valid and founded.

“Aki, listen to me for once in your life, alright? I love you, I really do. I also  _ do _ care about you. But the reason I left was because I felt confined in here. I was choking. I thought that going away would help, and it did. I know what you have done, you’ve done it for our own good. I’m grateful for everything you did, but now, you need to let me go! I’ll be fine with Hades and Anubis, and I promise I’ll actually be more careful about my decisions, and hum, about breaking the rules,” Takeru let out a small chuckle. “I may get hurt. I hope I will not get turned. But you need to let me take my own decisions. Just… have some faith in me, okay?”

Akira didn’t want to look up. He didn’t want Takeru to see he was about to cry. He knew Takeru was old enough to take his own decisions, to decide his life. But he still felt the need to protect him, to make sure he wouldn’t be turned too. Not him.

“I… will,” he whispered. “I believe in you, and I will do my best to not interfere too much with your decisions.”

Takeru smiled and hugged his brother. “That’s all I ever asked.”

Hades smiled at the scene, not able to help himself. Seeing Takeru being so kind to his older brother was a change. He was used to seeing him ready to fight, angry most of the time. But the kind, gentle smile he showed, the gentle hug…

He was shaken out of his reverie by a howl coming from the garden. Before the brothers could react, he was on his feet and running toward the kitchen. He slid open the back door and stood on the porch, staring.

Takeru and Akira arrived running behind him, followed by the others who were still in the house. Yui made her way next to Hades, staring out at the scene displaying in front of them.

Apollon had a cut on his arm, but it didn’t look serious. Tsukito was right behind him, but Anubis was nowhere to be seen.

“What happened?” Yui asked as she ran down the flock of stairs and toward the members of her pack.

“ _ Surprise attack,” _ Tsukito replied. “ _ They were only three, we were fine. We fought a little, and someone howled. They turned around and left.” _

“Are you sure you were not followed here?” Hades asked, joining them. “And where’s Anubis?”

The others started coming out of the house, standing behind Yui and Hades.

“ _ Definitely. And Anubis is fine, it’s just…” _ Apollon stopped mid-sentence. “ _ You guys should probably go check out by yourselves. Tsukito will show you the way. Won’t you?” _

“ _ Of course. Go tend to your wound,”  _ Tsukito replied.

He nuzzled Apollon briefly, and waited for the others to get ready. Takeru was unsure if he should tag along, or stay behind. He desperately wanted to go, but he felt he wouldn’t be able to keep up with the werewolf pack.

“Stop right there, all of you!” Yui suddenly spoke up as she realized her entire pack was getting ready to leave.

The sun was setting, and it would soon be dark outside. Everyone was looking at Yui, who was removing her shoes.

“Hades will come with me. Thoth, you will accompany us. I need Dionysus and Akira to go on patrol right now and make sure no one is close to the city. I’ll be joining you right after we’ve settled whatever is going on in the forest.”

No one objected. Dionysus complained a little about how he had to go back on patrol right away, but he started removing his clothes anyway.

Yui started changing on the spot, discarding her clothes to the side carelessly, and changed into her wolf form, waiting for Hades to be ready too. Most of the boys were changing in front of everyone, except maybe for Akira, who preferred hiding behind the curtains. As soon as Hades had changed form, Thoth climbed on his back.

Takeru shrugged off the lack of modesty from everyone. He was slowly getting used to any of them not bothering hiding anything, and he had also seen much worse in college.

Tsukito growled and started running into the forest, followed by Yui. Hades was about to follow them, but he turned around briefly.

“ _ Stay indoors. Look after my nephew, please.”  _ He asked Takeru silently.

Despite wanting to be in on the action, Takeru nodded, and Hades left. Dionysus and Akira were gone too. The only ones remaining were Takeru, Apollon and Thor.

“Come on, Apollon, let’s get you patched up,” Thor smiled as Apollon morphed back into a human.

“I  _ am _ the doctor of this pack. I can patch myself up. I actually can,” he replied as he slid some pants on.

“Right. Just move back inside and stop talking, A-fool-on,” Takeru added as he jogged up the stairs.

Apollon protested as he followed the two humans, a hand pressed to his cut. It wasn’t anything severe and would be healed in an hour or two.

Takeru glanced one last time at the forest, where his brother and friends had disappeared, before closing the door and walking back to the living room. He hated being left out, but this time he had no choice. He simply hoped this wasn’t a trap, and that Hades, Tsukito, Yui, Thoth and Anubis would be completely fine.

Despite leaving after the others, Hades caught up to Yui and Tsukito in no time. He could feel Thoth’s grip on his mane as he ran through the woods, jumping over dead trees, climbing small hills, and overall avoiding obstacles. He was used to having Thoth climbing on his back when they needed his advice on things. Since he was the strongest of the pack, and the one who could endure having someone on his back for the longest time, he often travelled with Thoth on. Thoth also had learned how to make himself barely noticeable as they ran through the forest, hugging Hades’ neck if needed.

After ten minutes of running, they finally met up with Anubis, who was laying down on the ground in jackal form. He didn’t look bothered or injured. He started wagging his tail when he saw his friends arriving.

“ _ What happened?” _ Yui asked when she reached him. “ _ What is this all about?” _

Before she could finish her sentence, Anubis got to his feet and moved aside, revealing a man covered in bruises and cuts, some more severe than that others. He seemed unconscious, and was breathing heavily. His long, blond hair were caked in blood and mud. He had a nasty cut across his nose, and a black eye.

“ _ An innocent?” _ Yui asked as she started sniffing the body.

“ _ No. that’s Melissa,”  _ Hades replied in a low growl.

He crouched to the ground, allowing Thoth to climb off. The man ran toward the body and checked for his vital signs.

“The wounds seem to only be on the outside. I don’t think there’s much internal bleeding. I’m afraid most of these cuts were caused by silver,” he summed up.

“ _ We barely touched him. He was wounded when he got into the fight with the other three. Apollon knocked him out after he scratched his arm,”  _ Tsukito explained.

“ _ What do we do about him? How come you know him, Hades?” _ Anubis asked.

“ _ Well, he’s part of my brother’s pack. He was a new recruit when we left.” _

“ _ We can’t leave him here,” _ Yui whispered, letting out a little whine.

She approached the body and smelled him. Certain that the man couldn’t do any harm, she grabbed him gently by an arm and started lifting him up, waking up Melissa instantly. Howling in pain, the man started pushing at Yui weakly. He momentarily morphed back into a wolf, but it only made the pain worse, and he passed out.

Hades advanced toward Yui and Melissa, standing on his hind legs. He took Melissa in his arm, carrying him bridal style.

“ _ Are you sure about this?” _ Hades asked Yui as they started making their way back home, walking slowly.

“ _ He is our enemy! Yui, I’m not sure this is a good idea…” _ Tsukito added.

“ _ The others won’t like this. We’re letting a spy inside our HQ!” _ Anubis agreed.

“ _ What I see right now is a wounded man. He was wounded by silver. As far as I know, none of you have silver claws, or silver weapons, unlike the enemy pack. He obviously has been mistreated by his own ‘friends’,”  _ Yui explained. “ _ So yes, I am sure. We’re taking him back to HQ. Leader’s order.” _

She finished with a loud growl. The others understood that this meant no one could even think about discussing what had been decided.

They walked together in silence, Hades standing tall on his hind leg, still carrying the werewolf in his arms. Melissa was bigger than him, which made it harder for him to carry him. He tried to be as careful as he could, walking slowly as to not wake the man up because of the pain.

Yui lead the way, walking side by side with Thoth as they chatted silently about their ‘prisoner’. Behind them was Tsukito, walking with his head hanging low. He was probably worried about Apollon, but also the fact they were bringing the one responsible for his cut back home. Hades followed him, and behind him was Anubis, trotting happily. He was staring at the blond wolf, ready to pounce on him if he were to wake up and attack Hades. But Hades knew Melissa was in no shape to fight back, or do anything, really.

“Please… kill me right now, _ ”  _ Hades heard a deep voice say.

He looked down and saw Melissa’s half opened eye staring at him, begging.

“ _ No, you don’t deserve it. Hang in there, we’ll help you,” _ Hades replied as he started walking faster.

They reached the house after what felt like hours. The sun was down, the moon shining brightly overhead, lighting the backyard. They were greeted by their friends, who were obviously waiting for them.

“What happened?” Loki asked as he opened the door.

“Shit happened, that’s what happened,” Thoth groaned as he climbed the stairs four by four. “Where’s Aki?”

“He’s not back yet,” Takeru answered.

Thoth didn’t reply as he stormed inside the house. Apollon appeared, running toward Tsukito, who was just finishing getting dressed.

“Are you okay?” Tsukito asked, obviously worried.

“Much better than that guy, I must say. Way better than him,” Apollon said, pointing at the man in Hades’ arm.

“ _ It’s Melissa,”  _ Hades said as he walked toward the house.

“Melissa? I hadn’t recognized him! He has changed so much!” Apollon exclaimed in awe.

“He’s wounded very badly. Like, wounds caused by silver, bruises and all. Thoth says there shouldn’t be any internal bleeding,” Yui told him as she put her clothes on, which had been folded and placed on the stairs by Thor. 

“Thor called us, saying we should get our asses here,” Loki said as he joined the group. “I don’t see how we can be of use though.”

“We need to stay together. They’ve attacked our ranks. I think you and Balder will need to stay here for a while,” Yui smiled at them. “But for now, I need Hades to get this man inside, and I need Apollon to check him out.”

“Sure, let me just grab my equipment! It won’t take long!”

“Ah, Apollon wait!” Tsukito called back, but his boyfriend was gone.

He ran back in the house, followed by Anubis, who had finished changing back into his clothes. Loki and Balder followed too, talking about how they may have to quickly go back to their apartment to grab a case full of clothes.

“Come on, let’s get you inside. You must be exhausted from walking on two legs,” Yui smiled at Hades.

“ _ It’s not as bad as you may think, _ ” Hades replied.

In his arm, Melissa groaned with pain as he moved weakly. With Takeru’s help, Yui opened the door wide enough to let Hades’ large frame fit inside. Back when they first decided to make the Totsuka mansion their headquarters, the pack had done some changing to the house, so they could fit inside even in their canine form, which had been handy quite a few times.

Hades made his way to the room where he had himself been left in 3 days ago. He dropped Melissa on the bed, making the man howl and whine in pain.

“ _ I will go to the river to get washed, it will be easier than changing into a human and taking a shower.”  _ He announced, looking down at his fur covered in blood.

“Ask Anubis to come with you,” Yui simply replied, completely focused on the man in the bed.

“ _ Anubis just came back. Takeru will come with me. Won’t you, Takeru?” _ He asked, glancing briefly at the boy, who was standing in the door frame.

Takeru looked up at the giant wolf, surprised. “Yeah, of course! Just… let me grab my katana!”

He ran out of the room, only to remember he had left his sword by the stairs earlier that day. He grabbed it, and waited for Hades to get out of the house.

Takeru thought of grabbing a flashlight and ran outside. Hades was waiting for him, sitting under the tree. His eyes reflected the light from the house, scaring him a little.

“ _ Hurry up, this stinks and I hate it,”  _ Hades groaned as he got on all four, walking toward the forest.

“Is the river far?” Takeru asked innocently as he jogged to catch up with Hades. “Also, why did you ask me to come?”

“ _ It is close by. And I thought you may want to go out a little, especially since I told you to stay behind earlier. I thought that if I let you come this time, it would calm you down enough for you to stay put all day long now.” _

“If you promise to take me out in the forest to train every once in a while, I’ll stay put… as much as I can,” Takeru snorted.

“ _ Deal,” _ Hades agreed, glancing briefly at the boy.

He seemed to be smiling, but he was probably just panting. His tongue was coming out from the side of his mouth as he walked slowly toward the river. Takeru couldn’t remember where it was. He rarely went further than his tree house as a kid. He knew there was a river, and he always wished he could’ve gone, but his parents or Akira would never let him go.

They finally reached the small river. It wasn’t very profound, but it was enough for Hades to lay down in it and try to wash away the blood on his chest. He groaned and sneezed in the water as he splashed around desperately.

“ _ Fucking thing won’t come off…” _ He growled as he sat back in the water, looking down at his paws.

“Do you, perhaps, need some help?” Takeru asked him, trying hard not to laugh.

“ _ The water is freezing cold, this may not be a good idea.” _ Hades replied as he looked around for something he could use to rub off the blood.

“Come on, let me give you a hand, Big Boy.”

“ _ Don’t call me that, oh lord,”  _ Hades snorted.

Takeru laughed and dropped his katana off to the side. He removed his shirt and trousers, not thinking much of it. It’d be better if his clothes stayed dry while he washed Hades. It was dark anyway, and he wasn’t known to be shy to appear nearly naked in front of his friends. However, Hades’ wolf eyes could make out perfectly Takeru’s shape in the dark. He saw him jump in the cold water, only wearing his boxers, and Hades was very glad the boy couldn’t see him blush.

“Jesus Christ, it is cold,” Takeru shivered.

“ _ I told you that, idiot,” _ Hades growled back.

“Oh psssht, stop complaining and lower yourself a little, so I can wash you.”

With a groan, Hades laid down in the river again, his chest raising slightly above the water, which reached Takeru’s mid-thigh.

The young man stood in front of the wolf, who panted, letting mist out in the cold night air. He took another step forward, careful not to slip on the rocks. When he reached Hades fur, he put his hands in the water and splashed the wolf. He put his hands in the fur, rubbing the places caked in blood. He was surprised at how soft it was, once the blood was gone.

He dipped his hands back in the water and started rubbing again, unaware at how flustered Hades was. The werewolf couldn’t help it. Takeru had removed his headband, his now wet hair falling in front of his face. He wore an adorable expression, eyebrows furrowed, tongue sticking out as he concentrated on rubbing the blood off. Hades had to tear his eyes away and focus on something else.

“Lower your head,” Takeru said very seriously, tugging a little at Hades’ mane.

“ _ Why? _ ” Hades asked, taken by surprise.

“’Cause you have blood in your mane too, stupid. Come on, I’m starting to freeze here, jeez.”

Hades yawned and lowered his head a little, allowing Takeru to wash his mane too. He started rubbing at the hair, soaking it in the cold water. Takeru wouldn’t be surprised if he caught a cold the next day. But helping out Hades was a nice thing. He felt useful.

After a while of keeping his head at a weird angle, Hades decided to let it rest lightly on Takeru’s shoulder. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes as Takeru’s hands traveled farther up his mane, until he could feel his fingers scratching behind his ears.

“ _ What are you doing? _ ” Hades whispered.

“Well, there’s blood all over that side of your mane… I was also curious to know if werewolves like being scratched behind the ears, like dogs,” Takeru admitted as he continued washing the mane. “There, it seems to be all gone. Well at least, the worst part of it. You can probably easily wash the rest in the shower back home.”

“ _ A good shower, some food, and then sleep. That sounds like a plan. Ready to go back?” _ Hades asked as he rose from the river, shaking himself dry.

“The fuck! It’s fucking cold stop that!” Takeru complained loudly, covering his face with his hands.

Hades laughed as he got out of the river, followed by Takeru. The young man put his clothes back on, shivering from the cold air and water. He grabbed his katana and started walking back home when he felt Hades’ paws grabbing him by the waist and rising him in the air.

“Hey-ho, let me go! What are you doing?”

But Hades did not reply. He was sitting on the ground, hugging Takeru to his mostly dry chest. The warmth radiating from the wolf immediately made Takeru stop shivering and warmed him up nicely. After a few minutes in silence, Hades finally put Takeru back on the ground and started making his way toward the HQ.

“ _ Thank you for helping me wash away all that blood.” _

“W-well, thank you f-for warming me up…”

Hades snorted as Takeru jogged to catch up with him. They walked a little faster than they had to reach the river. They wanted to get back home as soon as possible, and they were also very hungry.

They reached the house a little after 7 PM. They hadn’t talked much on the way back, simply enjoying the other’s presence. Takeru entered the kitchen first while Hades changed back and put some pants on.

“Hey! Did you guys have any trouble?” Yui greeted him.

She was alone, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea. Takeru could hear the others in the living room as they played video games, most likely.

“Nope. Everything went smoothly,” Takeru said as he grabbed stuff in the fridge and made himself and Hades a sandwich. “Is my brother back?”

“Yeah, they returned not long after you guys left. Dionysus is fine too. I didn’t send anyone else on patrol for now, and I won’t until I have talked about a few things with Hades. If they start to ambush us…” She sighed, shaking her head.

“They won’t do it again. They know we will be on our guard now,” Hades said as he entered the house.

He was wearing the shirt he had earlier and his jeans. He didn’t have any socks or shoes on, and did not seem bothered at all by the cold air coming in from the door.

“I’ll go wash my hair in the shower, I’ll be back in ten,” he said as he hurried upstairs.

“Are you sure nothing happened while you guys were at the river?” Yui asked, a smile dancing on her lips as she looked at her childhood friend.

“Nothing happened. Why would you doubt that?” Takeru replied with a frown as he took his sandwich and coke to the table, sitting next to his friend.

“Oh, I didn’t mean something bad, like our enemies attacking you. I just meant… something in general.”

“Weed, stop being vague and get to the point,” the young man was now slightly annoyed.

“Tell me, how do you feel about Hades?” Yui whispered.

Takeru stared at her for a moment, chewing on the bite he had just taken of his sandwich. Why would she think he had developed any special feelings for him? They had just met. They got along very well together, but Takeru only saw him as a friend. Yeah sure, he was pretty handsome and nice, but Takeru was not interested in entering a new relationship, and he didn’t have any romantic feelings for the man.

“He’s my friend, that’s all. I just met him, Weed,” he finally retorted.

“I know, I didn’t… oh I didn’t mean if you were in love, or just had a crush on him!” Yui’s face turned a deep red color as she stared down at her cup. “I just… in general, I meant.”

Takeru took another bite of his sandwich, chewing it slowly. He was trying not to laugh at Yui’s expression, but a smile desperately wanted to make its way on his lips.

“As I said, he’s a friend. We get along pretty well, and he’s fun to be around.”

“Well, I’m glad then,” she shyly smiled at him.

She finished her tea, put the cup in the dishwasher, and bid Takeru goodnight. She looked very tired, which was understandable, considering the events of the day.

Takeru sat alone, eating his sandwich. Hades joined him, but he ate quickly and went to bed, just as exhausted as the others. One by one, his friends and brothers told him good night, until he was the only one left awake.

He cleaned up the kitchen a little, picked up his sword and belongings and was about to go upstairs and sleep, when he heard a groan. Curiosity taking control of him, he decided to investigate the sounds. He had his doubts on what caused it, but he wanted to make sure.

He reached the guest’s room and checked inside. On the bed laid the blond haired man. He didn’t look any better than before. If Takeru had to guess, he actually seemed worse. He thought the man was asleep, but he caught a glimpse of a green eye staring at him.

The man weakly motioned him to come over to the bed. He winced in the process of doing so. Even a movement as small as moving his fingers put him in atrocious pain, and Takeru found it incredible that his own pack had done that to him. His very own people had hurt him to the point he could barely move.

Takeru approached the bed, standing up next to the man’s head, katana slung over his shoulder. He was worried to be attacked, since the man could barely move. He even leaned down when the man motioned him to do so, and turned his ear toward him.

“Plea…se,” the man tried to say, but he started coughing. “Kill me… quickly.”

He finished in a coughing fit again, wincing and groaning from the pain he could feel.

And all Takeru could do in that moment was stare. 

  
  



	6. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am very inconsistent with updating this... and this was the last chapter that had been beta'd, the rest is in waiting since my dearest friend is busy with other projects. I more or less feel like finishing this, seeing how little reactions I have regarding this fic. I do not want to discard it, it is too dear to my heart. I've been working on it for 2 years, and trying to publish it for 1. It's hard, really, but I'm determined to go to the end with it, despite it's lack of attention.
> 
> So I'm sorry, if anyone is actually following this, for the (very) slow updates. I lack the motivation to even work on the chapters anymore. But it's always at the back of my mind, and even if it takes me years, I will finish this fanfiction!

He could not possibly kill the man. Sure, Melissa must be in atrocious pain but… but he couldn’t just kill him! He didn’t want to be charged with murder and go to prison! No. He was not going to kill their prisoner, absolutely not.

So Takeru kneeled down next to the bed, grabbed the pot of water with the cloth in it, removed the extra water from the fabric and pressed it to Melissa’s face gently, wiping away some blood and sweat. The man flinched, but didn’t try to stop him. 

“Sorry, can’t do that. I don’t really want to go to prison,” Takeru simply said.

Melissa stayed silent as he closed his eyes again. Takeru was unable to read his expression and had no idea what the man was thinking. He didn’t want to make him talk again, though, so he wouldn’t suffer.

“I’ll look after you tonight though, and provide water and whatever you need that I can get you. But you should sleep. I know the pain must be terrible,” he finished in a sigh. “But at least, while asleep, you won’t feel it.”

There was no answer from the man. Takeru removed the wet cloth and put it in the pot of water, washing away the blood, sweat and the dirt that was on it.

“Plus, Apollon is a Doctor. Or studying to become one. I’m not sure which one it is. You’re in good hands.”

“Why… Why do you care… about me?” Melissa croaked, eyes still shut tight.

Takeru paused for a moment and thought. Why did he care? He didn’t know. Somehow, he felt the need to help this man too, just like he felt the need to help Hades out a few nights ago. It was like he had to do something, whether they were friendly or not to him. He just couldn’t stand by and do nothing while someone suffered.

“I don’t know,” Takeru admitted after a while. “You’re wounded, and you have no one to take care of you beside us.”

“You could… kill me,” he coughed a little before continuing. “I am your enemy.”

His voice was but a whisper. Takeru had a hard time hearing him speak, but he still managed to get what he was saying.

“Are you?”

“Yes.”

Despite his serious answer, Takeru could see the pain in his eyes. This man had gone through so much, that was certain. And to think he considered himself part of the pack that had hurt him.

“Look. I haven’t been among werewolves for very long.”

“The last of the Totsuka,” Melissa whispered.

“Yeah, I go by that name among your kind, apparently,” Takeru smiled, putting the wet cloth on Melissa’s forehead again. “I’ve just been thrown into this world, but from what I’ve seen… pack mates don’t hurt you with silver. Or at all, for all it matters. And from the look of it, this has been going on for a while.”

Melissa stayed silent as he stared at the ceiling. A single tear rolled off his cheek, followed by another. He wanted to cry, but the pain from doing so was too important.

“I have nowhere to go,” he managed weakly, a sob in his voice.

“I’m… you know Hades, Apollon and Dionysus, don’t you? Hades said you joined the pack a little before they left. I’m sure they know you’re just a victim in this…”

“No they… they wouldn’t. Zeus…Zeus says they don’t care about any of us anymore,” Melissa croaked.

He could make longer sentences now. Apparently, he was slowly healing, or he was so numb from the pain that he couldn’t feel it anymore.

“Zeus is obviously a liar. Hades was the one who brought you here, and from how he’s talking, he’ll request that you either stay with us until you’re good to leave, or even join the pack. No idea how it all works though,” Takeru shrugged. “And I doubt Apollon would have treated you if he didn’t care. I can’t speak for them, but from my small encounter with Zeus… I think you would be better off with us.”

Melissa looked at him from the corner of his eyes, eyebrows furrowed.

“You saw Zeus and survived?”

“Didn’t he tell the members of his pack?” Takeru was careful not to say ‘your’.

“I… maybe… maybe he did while I was out of it.”

He closed his eyes, hurt. Takeru was pretty sure they had mentioned it to them all, since he was now a target. But maybe, just maybe they had left Melissa out voluntarily…

“Hey, you should get some sleep. I’ll let you rest and gather up some energy, so that tomorrow we can start asking questions about transferring packs.”

Takeru got to his feet and was about to leave, not waiting for an answer. He felt bad for what happened to Melissa. Being backstabbed by people you trusted… he shuddered. It hit too close to home.

As he started walking, he felt Melissa’s hand brush his ever so gently. Slowly, he turned around, a confused expression on his face. He looked down on the man, who stared at him through eyes clouded with tears and pain, his gaze focusing momentarily with fear.

“I thought… you were staying all night…? I’m scared… scared someone will attack me, and I feel like I can trust you… so please… do…”

Takeru hesitated, but gave in easily. He understood the pain Melissa was probably going through. He understood it too well. He needed someone he could trust, even just a little, so he could rest properly without fearing for his life at every moment. Maybe trust wasn’t the right word, since Melissa barely knew him, but he felt a sense of security with him around. Like Takeru knew right from wrong, and that Melissa deserved a chance. 

“Just give me a few seconds,” he smiled and left, half jogging.

He climbed to his room and grabbed his blanket and a pillow, running back downstairs immediately. He already had his sword in the guest room, so that was settled. He dropped his blanket and pillow in the room, and ran back out, this time to the basement. He grabbed one of the camping mattress they had down there and brought it back up. He placed it on the ground of the room, put his pillow and blanket on it and settled down on the makeshift bed.

“Thank you…” Melissa sighed, already half asleep from exhaustion.

Before Takeru could say ‘no problem’, Melissa was softly snoring on the bed next to him. Takeru undid his hair and laid down, crossing his arms under his neck and looked at the ceiling. Slowly, as his mind cleared, he felt himself drift slowly to sleep. He knew none of the others would attack Melissa in the middle of the night, but he also understood the werewolf’s worries. He was in an unknown environment, among people he was supposed to hate. He is weak and unable to defend himself. Takeru thought he probably asked him to stay because he was not a werewolf, and he had his sword. Plus their little chat must have helped.

Takeru fell asleep like that, not worried by a possible attack. He knew he’d wake up if there was a need, or if Melissa started screaming.

* * *

 

The next morning, Takeru was woken up abruptly by someone falling on top of him. He opened his eyes immediately, trying to sit up. He only managed to hit his head against the other person’s head, falling back on the bed, his forehead throbbing with pain.

“I’m sorry!” a deep voice said rapidly. “Oh dear, I thought I was steadier on my legs than that…”

Takeru cracked an eye open and saw Melissa’s dishevelled blond hair falling over his face as he held his forehead with one hand. He was sitting on him, one leg on each side of his body.

“It’s alright,” Takeru groaned. “Who gave you clothes?”

Melissa had indeed somehow found a pair of trousers to put on. But he was still shirtless, and the trousers were not attached yet, which lead Takeru to think he was probably getting dressed when he stumbled and fell over Takeru.

“I don’t know. Someone dropped them on the railing of the bed before I woke up. I assumed they were for me, since they’re obviously too big for you… no offense,” Melissa quickly added, not wanting his statement to sound like an insult.

“Oh, don’t worry, I know I’m small. Anyway, those seems like Thor’s clothes, which kind of makes sense since he’s pretty much as buff as you are.”

“Thor? How many Thors are there in town?” Melissa asked, puzzled.

“Honestly, I think there’s just one. You know him?”

“Sort of.”

“Hey, it’s not that I’m not enjoying this conversation, but you’re getting kinda heavy…”

But before Melissa could reply or even move, the door opened on Apollon and Tsukito arguing silently, Apollon with his hands full of medical supplies. They stopped talking for a moment and stared at the two men.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! Oh my, I should have knocked!” Apollon exclaimed as he quickly closed the door, his face completely flushed.

“No, wait! It’s not what it looks like!” Takeru cried back, burying his face in his hands. “Why is this always happening…?”

“You mean it’s not the first time someone surprises you having a conversation with someone sitting on top of you?” Melissa asked, amused, as he got off Takeru, allowing him to sit up in bed.  

“It’s always happening. I’d have sleepovers with Yui, Loki, Balder, Thor and Tsukito, everyone would get up but me and one other, somehow we’d end up in a sort of sexual position, and everyone else walks in on us at the wrong moment. It happens way too often…”

Melissa started laughing heartily. He then winced from the pain and pressed a hand to one of the wounds on his stomach, trying hard to calm his laughter. He seemed much better than yesterday.

“…can we come in?” Apollon’s shy voice came in from the door.

“Yes you can, idiot. We weren’t doing anything,” Takeru angrily sighed.

The door opened again on his brother and his boyfriend, who shyly entered the room. Apollon dropped his tools on a chair and started rummaging through his medicine bag.

“May I ask what you are doing here, Takeru?” Tsukito spoke softly as he sat down on the bed, leaving the little standing place to his boyfriend.

“Oh, he kept me company for part of the night, washing my face and stuff. Then he stayed to make sure I wasn’t attacked, since I am in enemy territory,” Melissa answered.

Tsukito looked at him angrily. He obviously disliked Melissa. Melissa being here didn’t make Tsukito happy, that was certain. After all, he was supposed to be an enemy, and he had wounded Apollon, even though that wound was long gone.

“What he said. I just made sure he could sleep without worrying too much. Sleep is good when you’ve been wounded that much,” Takeru added to calm his brother’s suspicions.

“Alright, Melissa, I’ll check your wounds,” Apollon announced, finally coming over to the bed and looking at Melissa’s large frame. “Do you still feel pain?”

“Yeah. All over.”

“At least they’re no longer swollen. I’ll check the wounds caused by silver, since the others are pretty much completely healed.”

As Apollon started his check-up on Melissa, who was being very still, and answered Apollon’s questions about his well-being, Takeru analyzed his brother. Tsukito was sitting stiffly on his bed, looking at his boyfriend. He had his pet rabbit, Usamaro, in his arms, and was petting him gently to soothe himself. He had the rabbit for longer than what was probably normal for a rabbit to live. Takeru had always suspected that rabbit to be magical in some way.

Tsukito’s eyes were angry. His whole body language was clear on that, but it was subtle. He seemed colder and more distant than normally, and someone who did not know Tsukito wouldn’t pick up on the change in attitude. But Takeru could pick up on any attitude change in his brother, and Apollon could probably do the same.

“I’m nearly done,” Apollon announced casually.

“Take your time. Is breakfast ready?” Takeru yawned, finally pushing the blankets away. “Anii, did you already eat?”

“No, not yet,” Tsukito answered, slightly surprised by Takeru’s use of their mother tongue.

“Well then, let’s go get something.”

Takeru did not leave him time to protest as he got up, grabbed Tsukito gently by the arm and dragged him out of the bedroom.

“We shouldn’t leave Apollon-”

“Apollon will be just fine, Tsukito. Melissa is an okay guy,” Takeru sighed as they made their way to the kitchen. “He’s wounded, and can barely stand.”

“How would you know? You don’t know him.”

“Well now I do. He’s scared, and he feels betrayed. He’s starting to realize that the treatment he got in Zeus’s pack wasn’t normal.”

“We can’t trust him! This could easily be a trap.”

“Not with the way he was wounded, Tsukito. I know you’re worried and angry because he hurt Apollon, but…”

“It’s alright, Takeru. You can stop. It won’t work.”

And Tsukito opened the door and went in the yard, putting Usamaro on the ground and making sure he wasn’t running away, while also allowing him to eat grass and enjoy being outside.

“Tsukito and Melissa have fought prior to this,” someone explained with a yawn.

Takeru turned around and found an extremely dishevelled Hades, dressed in some grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt with a skull on it, which also happened to be very form fitting…

He looked away, his face slightly flushed, as Hades made his way to the fridge. He seemed to be still half-asleep as he opened the door and yawned again.

“Have you slept well?” Takeru asked, breaking the silence that had settled.

“Uh. Not really. Your brother’s loud.”

“Er… which one?”

Hades looked puzzled for a moment. “Both,” he finally shrugged as he got the jug of milk out of the fridge and poured himself a glass.

It took Takeru a few seconds to process what he had heard. When he did, he started laughing out loud, burying his face in his hands.

“Oh no, that’s so embarrassing! I’m glad I slept downstairs!” He managed to say between fits of giggles.

“I mean, it wasn’t both last night, but I have no idea which one it was. Didn’t really bother to pay attention. I preferred putting my earplugs in.”

Takeru kept laughing as Hades took place at the table. When he finally stopped, his gaze fell on Hades, who was sipping his milk absentmindedly. He was staring outside at the forest.

“You seem worried,” Takeru said with a soft voice.

“Hmm. A little. The youngsters in my brother’s pack were pretty young when I left. I hope they’re treated better than Melissa was…”

“You care about that guy, don’t you?”

“I was the one to find him,” Hades smiled sadly. “Brought him over. When we left, I told him he could come with us, but he preferred staying with my brother…”

“I should have listened to you and followed you guys,” Melissa said as he walked in. “It is good to see you again, though.”

Hades turned around sharply and looked at Melissa, a smile spreading on his lips. Takeru couldn’t help but see the softness in his eyes as he looked at the stranger. He nearly spilled his milk as he stood up and went over to hug Melissa.

“You seem much better than yesterday!” Hades happily commented. “How are you feeling?”

“I am much better. You guys have an amazing doctor.”

“Oh, I didn’t do much. The fact you’re a werewolf just makes you heal faster,” Apollon humbly said as he walked in. “Luckily, the silver wounds were the less severe ones, and the others are healing properly. No risk of infection.”

“Still, you’re doing an amazing job with the silver wounds, and I thank you for that.”

“Well, no problem. No problem at all! Now, where’s my little moon?”

“Outside,” Takeru answered as he pointed to the glass door.

Apollon smiled at them one last time and disappeared outside. Melissa took a seat next to Hades and they started catching up, talking about what had happened ever since Hades and his nephews had left the pack.

Takeru, in all honesty, felt out of place. Well, he kind of was. He was a human, and didn’t have anything to do with this conversation. Deciding to let the two catch up in peace, he grabbed a few things to eat from the fridge and left for his room. He dropped the food on his desk, and went back downstairs to get his blankets and pillow from the guest room. He threw them on his bed, and sat down at his desk to eat his breakfast. He ended up reading a book at the same time, trying to chase the strange feeling that had settled in his stomach when Hades completely ignored him to talk with Melissa.

He didn’t understand why he felt like that. Yesterday, he had been feeling well, and close to Hades. Despite not having known him for a long time, he enjoyed his presence and liked just hanging out with him. He was good company, after all.

But why did it bother him so much that he was being so friendly with someone else? Takeru groaned and pushed his leftovers in front of him, no longer hungry. He grabbed a few things and hurried to the shower, before anyone else could monopolize the bathroom. He took his time, letting the warm water flow over him.

As he washed his hair, his thoughts slowly drifted. He first started remembering his time in college, with his friends, most of whom were also part of the swimming team. He remembered his competitions as he washed off the shampoo from his hair, a small smile spreading on his lips. His brothers didn’t know just how many competitions he had won, especially since his medals and trophies were all in some cardboard box in his car.

As he grabbed the soap and started washing his body, his thoughts drifted to his ex-girlfriend. She had appeared so bright and kind at first… he couldn’t understand just why she had turned against him. He remembered how much he had loved her, how dear she had been to him.

He put the soap back on its place and started rinsing it off his body. His hands were light against his skin, gently caressing his side like she used to do. Remembering her was hard and painful, but right now he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop remembering her blond hair, sharp, kind eyes, her rosy lips, the way her breasts would bounce when they had sex…

Unable to resist it anymore, his hand grabbed his penis as he gently started stroking himself, the water running down his back. He imagined that the water drops were her hands, trailing down his skin. He remembered the taste of her skin against his lips, the moans coming out of her mouth as he sucked on a nipple…

A groan escaped his lips as he touched himself, eyes closed, thoughts drifting endlessly. But slowly, the visions of his ex-girlfriend started changing into someone else. Her long, blond hair became dark against the moonlight. She now seemed taller, more muscular. And soon it was no longer his girlfriend.

His pace quickened as he imagined how Hades would feel under his touch. How he would react to his lips against his neck, leaving hickeys as he trailed down. He imagined how Hades’ mouth would feel around his cock as his hands tangled themselves in his hair, gently pulling at it in pleasure. He imagined himself moaning as Hades’ tongue trailed down and teased him, bringing him to the edge, but denying him any form of release.

And just as his pace got frantic, as he got close to coming, the water turned absolutely freezing on his back, biting at the warm skin. Takeru let out a surprised cry as he let go of his cock and turned around rapidly, slipping in the bathtub in the process, but still managing to close the running water.

Denied from his release, angry and hurt from having tripped in the tub, he pulled aside the shower curtain and got out of the shower in a hurry, barely taking the time to dry himself before putting his clothes on. Normally, he took the time to style his hair before going out of the bathroom, but this time he did not bother. With his half closed shirt, hurriedly put on jeans, and socks in his hands Takeru slammed the door open and left the bathroom stomping, going downstairs in a hurry. His hair was dripping with cold water, but he couldn’t care less. He was absolutely angry, his vision focused only on the door leading to where he expected the culprit to be hiding.

He looked quickly in the kitchen, barely staying long enough to hear Hades asking something (“Who was that?”) and hearing Yui’s answer (“Well, it’s Takeru?”) before continuing his way to the basement. There, he found the person who was to blame for his hurting sides and bad mood.

“Loki, I swear to god, I’ll beat the shit out of you,” Takeru snapped at him as he stared at Loki, who, despite the smile, seemed genuinely frightened.

“You were taking forever in there! I, too, need to shower, you know!” the redhead replied, backing away toward the wall as Takeru walked toward him.

Takeru was about to grab his collar and menace him when someone put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from pursuing his little talk with his fists. He turned around, glaring, only to be met with the beautiful eyes he had just been thinking about…

His face became a deep red as he shook off the hand and made his way back upstairs, leaving Hades, Yui and Loki in the basement with more questions than answers. He walked without stopping toward the back door and opened it. He didn’t have any shoes, but he didn’t care. He was ashamed of his reaction. He did overreact, and Loki didn’t deserve being beaten for having turned off the hot water, even if it was a mean thing to do.

He started going in the forest, wanting to be alone. He didn’t realize how cold it was this morning, and kept walking. He had forgotten about the security rules, about all the werewolves, about everything. His mind was blank, save for one idea: getting himself in a place where he’d be completely alone, where no Loki could tease him, where no Yui could ask questions, and where no Hades would make him feel upside down.

Takeru had broken into a sprint without realizing it, reaching the house hidden in the trees faster than expected. He grabbed the rope and climbed up, opening the door and finally getting inside. He reeled the rope in, close the trap and sat with his back against the wall. He took some deep breaths and closed his eyes.

His burning skin slowly cooled down as he breathed and stared the ceiling of his little hideout. He felt guilty for having snapped at Loki so badly. He felt guilty for thinking about beating his friend. Yeah sure, Loki was annoying and sometimes you felt like hitting him, but he did not deserve it. He did not deserve to be punished so strongly. Takeru was once more overreacting, and he knew it. He knew it so badly. It was just like when he was a kid, settling everything with his fists, no matter what. He thought he had changed, but maybe not in the end.

He cursed and hit the wall next to him. Takeru was shivering now from the cold weather, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to care. He spared the dusty blankets in the corner of the hideout a glance, but decided it would be a bad idea, since he had just taken a shower. He didn’t want to get dirty again.

He curled up on himself instead, legs pressed against his chest, arms wrapped around them and forehead pressed against his knees. He was still angry and guilty and he could not think straight. He needed to calm down. He had to, or everything would get worse.

Slowly, his breathing became normal again, and his head had stopped throbbing in pain from all the clenched muscles. His jaw loosened a bit, and he stopped grasping his legs so tightly. He kept concentrating on his breathing, mainly because that soothed him, but also because it kept him from thinking about all that had happened in the last minutes. About how he had imagined his friend while masturbating, which was very troubling, but also about his feelings for his ex-girlfriend, and from his anger directed at Loki.

He was perfectly calm and shivering badly when he heard a knock on the trap door. Surprised, Takeru simply stared at the door, until the sound repeated. How could someone even knock?

Suddenly afraid and remembering all the werewolves stories and the attacks from the previous days, Takeru started trembling. Why was he so stupid…?

“Takeru! It’s me!” He heard a muffled voice.

The only person who knew where his hideout was happened to be the one he least wanted to see at the time. And yet… he felt glad Hades came to look for him. It somehow satisfied him to know that he wasn’t with Melissa anymore.

Taking in a deep breath, he uncurled himself and crawled toward the trap, opening it and letting the rope fall to the ground, allowing Hades to climb in. Next thing he knew, Hades was looking at him from the entrance, obviously worried more than anything else.

“Are you alright?”

“I-I’m fine,” Takeru shivered.

Hades didn’t reply. He simply sighed, climbed in completely and closed the door. He removed his coat and draped it around Takeru, who didn’t complain or politely decline the coat. He, instead, immediately grabbed it and hugged it harder around himself, absorbing the warmth of it. He closed his eyes again, curling up on himself as he warmed himself up little by little. It was working for a while, but after a moment, he was cold again. Seeing him shiver, Hades sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders, pressing Takeru against his body.

Takeru’s eyes opened abruptly, but he did not move. His face, he was sure of it, was a deep red color, as he felt incredibly flustered from being hugged like this by Hades.

“I hoped I would find you here, you know,” Hades talked in a hushed tone. “I was scared you would have ran off much deeper in the forest.”

“I’m sorry… I didn’t think… I-” Takeru tried to speak, but his voice broke.

“You do not have to apologize. You have a lot going on in there,” he said, pressing a finger to Takeru’s temple. “I am just glad I was able to find you quickly. You could have put your socks on, though,” he smiled down at him.

Takeru looked up, and being greeted with such a sweet, compassionate smile… it warmed him up a little more. He felt his previous worries; his jealousy, mainly; fly away as he simply leaned in closer to Hades.

“Thanks,” he whispered, closing his eyes again.

They stayed in silence for a long time, Takeru only twitching every once in a while to cover himself up more in the long coat. He couldn’t help but take in the sweet smell of it. He tried to remember what it smelled like, but failed to do so.

“We should get back. The others must be worried sick,” Hades said, but without even moving a little.

“Just… a little more, please,” Takeru silently begged as he finally managed to look up and look at Hades in the eyes.

Hades nodded and looked away. He was feeling his face burn. Takeru looked incredibly cute with his hair down.  He had this tired look on his face, his cheeks still slightly red from all the emotions he had gone through.

A few minutes passed and Hades was about to tell Takeru they really ought to go back now, but he was stopped by a mumbling voice. He looked down, only to find Takeru fast asleep against him, his grip on his coat loosened. Hades scoffed at the sight, and smiled, shaking his head.

Gently, he let him slid to the ground of the hideout as he proceeded to go down the rope. Hades removed his clothes, put them over his shoulder and morphed into his other form. Standing on his back legs, he was tall enough to reach Takeru’s body inside and bring him out, holding him bridal style, just as he had done for Melissa the previous day. Just like that, he made his way back to the HQ, walking slowly and hugging the boy close, making sure he wasn’t cold anymore.

Once he reached the house, he gently put Takeru down on the porch, allowing him to change back into a human and putting on his clothes. He picked the boy up again, and made his way to Takeru’s bedroom, hushing everyone who tried asking him questions.

“He is just sleeping. Now move aside!” Hades whispered as he climbed that stairs.

“Is he okay? Where was he?” Yui asked, following him.

“He is fine, he was just cold. As for where he was, I am bound to secrecy,” Hades winked at her.

She sighed as she followed him to Takeru’s bedroom, opening the door for him. She moved the blankets aside, allowing Hades to put down his friend. He let his coat with him, since Takeru was still holding onto it, and Hades was too scared to wake him up if he tried to take his coat back. Finally, he put his blankets over him and left the room with Yui, closing the door behind them.

“What took you so long?” Yui scolded him as soon as they were downstairs.

“Were you guys making out?” Loki asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“You cannot rush someone who is having a breakdown. I forgot my cellphone, but I should have texted you, I know. He is fine, we are both fine, end of the story. And no, Loki, we were not making out.”

“You wouldn’t even tell us if you were, so whatever,” Loki yawned.

“And you should tell him sorry once he wakes up. If you had just waited a little longer, none of this would have happened.”

“Yeah, yeah, Mr. Death, I got the message when he came running downstairs,” Loki pouted.

Despite putting up a show, Hades saw that Loki did regret his action. And that’s all that mattered for now, at least.

As he sat down on his chair, Hades looked out the window and onto the street. The sun was still high, but it felt like that day was over, and his heart was a mess. Oh how he had wanted to kiss Takeru back then! But he also didn’t want to rush him into anything. He didn’t want Takeru to feel obligated to return his feelings right away, like he would stop loving him later on. He understood Takeru needed time, and he would wait an eternity if he needed.

Ah, yes. He would definitely wait an eternity for this boy.

 


End file.
